I Don't Want To Be The BrokenHearted Girl
by xTwilightxSparklesx
Summary: Aria has kept a secret and it's tearing her up inside. Ezra Fitz, her english teacher is willing to help her. Will she let him help her and will there be feelings growing between the two of them? Sorry suck at summaries, the story is better!
1. Pilot

The bathroom floor was hard and cold as she sat on the floor with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her sobs were the only sound echoing all around her. She stood up, wiped away the last tears that escaped from her eyes. With the last forces she had she turned on the tap and cold water poured out. She held her hands under the tap and let them be filled with the cold water while the blood from her hands was washed away. She brought her hands to her face and splashed the now icy water on her face. She looked up slowly, looking in the mirror and became afraid of her own reflection, she did not recognize herself. Her eyelids were fluffy and eyes bloodshot from crying the whole night until now, two in the afternoon. She did not like what she saw. Formerly she had been the lucky girl who seemed to have no problems, the girl who was caring and always there for her friends, the girl who had the perfect life. She frowned.

"Perfect life, yeah sure" was heard in the room, but if you know her and heard her voice, you would never have guessed that it was her, her voice was fragile, sad, devastated.

She rooted around in the bathroom cabinets for a bandage to stop the blood with. She regretted it afterwards, she didn't want kill herself, just see the pain, not feel it within and not know where it was. A cut in each wrist showed her pain and dropped the thought of the pain inside, she saw it and knew where it was, where it would always appear. The scars on her wrists, forever visible, too always remind her of what she went through.

She sat with her back against the lockers in the school corridor. Her knees were drawn up towards her chest and her chin rested on them, while her arms hugged her legs hard, as if she was trying to hold herself together, keeping the pieces together to keep herself from falling into a thousand pieces. All classes were finished for the day and there were not a single soul in sight, at least that what she thought. When she let the tears fall, and a crying attack was coming over her, she heard a door open. She quickly wiped her tears and looked up a moment before she lowered her head again, she did not want to appear weak to anyone, certainly not for him, Ezra Fitz, or any other teacher. He was one of her teachers, the really hot one and to make it better, only about five or six years older than her. With his curly hair, blue eyes and tanned skin after the summer break he looked better than ever. She looked up when she saw a shadow over her. Their eyes met and it was not long before she had to look away so she wouldn't blush, he was even more attractive up close and those eyes, she could stare into them forever. After a few minutes of silences the first words that were shared between them came.

"Are you okay" he asked.

She nodded, but did not dare to look up, he did not have think she was a bigger idiot than she already was sitting in school crying.

"I don't believe you" he said.

When he realized he would not get a better response. He sat down beside her. "Now, tell me what you are doing here ..." he picked up his cell phone and checked the clock "at half past six" She frowned- She may be small and fragile, but she was not going to sit here and tell all her problems to her English teacher that she barely knew, never going to happen

"Why would I do that," she said in a dismissive tone.

"I'm your teacher and I'm here to help you" he said and gave her a boyish smile.

"Even if you were the last person on earth, I would never talk to you about it," she said, getting up and walked away.

"Wait," he shouted after her.

She stopped and turned slowly. "What" she asked.

"I do care about you, Aria, and if there's anything I can do to help you I will help you," he said, smiling.

"I don't doubt that you care, it's just I don't want to talk about it" she said, giving him a small smile.

"Alright, but if you want to talk you know where to find me" he said

She smiled, "Thank you" she said.

She turned around and walked outside, she did not know where. She didn't want to go home, she didn't have a home, not a home that felt home anyway.


	2. If Only Things Were Different

**Hope you all can understand this chapter. Sometimes I intend to want to write something but when I write it, it turns out completely wrong. Any questions, just ask me and I'll answer them!**

* * *

She was angry with herself. How could she let her life turn out this way? She was on her way home; she had walked around Rosewood for four hours and bumped into Mr. Fitz two times already. She was starting to think he was following her and decided it would be even more awkward if she bumped into him a third. But when she stood outside her house she didn't want to go in. She sighed, opened the door and walked in, straight to her room. She didn't want to talk to anyone in her family, she only felt bad for Mike, her brother who had to suffer from this to. God, she hated this. That was what had led her to the bathroom and her cutting her wrists. She would've gone to Spencer's, Hanna's or Emily's house but they were all with their boyfriends or in Emily's case, girlfriend. They had all tried to hook her up with guys at school but all she could think about was here family. How torn apart they were because of her. She couldn't help but blame herself for it.

Ever since she told her mother about her dad cheating on her, she would either walk into the house hearing them in a big argument or dead silence. The silence was almost worst; at least when they fought they talked. She cried on her bed, her wounds were acing and she couldn't exactly go to her mother and ask for painkillers. And then there was this other problem, the other secret and then another one after that, they didn't stop…

She had caught Mike doing drugs, she had promised to keep it quiet as long as he promised he would quit, but as she had told her mother about Meredith, the person her dad had been with, she couldn't even imagine her own parents having sex and now she had a picture of him and Meredith all over each other, she was very sure about the fact that her brother was on drugs again and she was very scared of losing him, but telling her parents right now, would end up with them sending him away and her losing him anyway. She didn't know what to do; she was scared of her own family. Not her mother, but her father after what he had done to her…

A week passed after her and Mr. Fitz's talk. She was called to stay after class, he had something he needed to talk about and she sure hoped it was about homework and not anything else.

"How are you doing" He asked curios.

"I'm fi..." She didn't finish before he cut her off.

"Don't say you're fine, cause you aren't" He said and looked at her pleadingly. He wanted so badly to help the beautiful and talented girl he knew she was. As he saw it now, she was damaged, badly.

"What do you want me to say" She asked as tears started to escape from her eyes.

"I want you to tell me what's going on so I can help you, because I see how hurt and damaged you are, I can't see you like this" He said.

"I…I can't tell anyone" She said, now crying.

"Why"

"Because I don't want to get hurt again" She looked down as she broke down. He didn't know the other content of those words; she was actually getting hurt badly, not only mentally but also physically.

"Aria, you're already hurting" He said and sat down on the floor and wrapped an arm around her to comfort her.

He knew she was his student but something told him he needed to help her and not because he was her teacher.

"How about you and me take the day off and talk about this? You have to tell someone Aria. It doesn't have to be me if you don't want to, I can go with you to the therapist at school if you want to." He said and helped her up on her feet.

"Even though you're my teacher and this is supposed to me awkward, I'll say yes to the offer" She said and smiled lightly.

"Good" He said and packed up the desk.

* * *

She didn't want to be in public because he was her teacher so they went to his apartment. They both agreed it had been better in public but she didn't feel comfortable with everybody staring at her. He opened the door to his apartment and they walked in. She looked around and admired the place. She looked at all his books, movies and a whole other things that he had managed to fit into the small but comfy apartment. He gave her the coffee he made and sat down on the couch.

"This apartment is so you" She said and smiled for real the first time for the day.

"Is that a bad thing or a bad" He asked.

"Well, since you've got great books and movies I would say it's a good thing" She said and smiled and he smiled back.

After an hour or so of talking about their favorite books and movies, which turned out to be the same, he looked at her and wondered if she would start telling him what was bothering or if he would have to bring it up.

"If I'm going to tell you this you have to promise me you won't tell anyone and by that I mean anyone. Not even your girlfriend or best friend, I mean no one. If I find out you told anyone I will kill you Mr. Fitz"

"I've think we've gotten to know each other well enough for you to call me Ezra, at least outside school" He said and gave her his boyish smile. "And I won't tell anyone I promise. My girlfriend will be impossible to tell since I don't have anyone, haven't you noticed that by how my apartment looks" He said.

"Well, you do have a pair of boxers there, so that would explain it" She said and pointed beside his bed. She started to giggle as he started to panic. "I'm kidding" She said and laughed.

"Ha ha, very funny" He said.

"So why don't you have a girlfriend" She asked. She was curious as to why. He was really good looking, caring, everything you want a guy to be and she'd only talked to him for the first time, for real today, and as weird it would be, since he's her teacher, it wasn't. She felt safe and like she could trust him.

"Don't change the subject, miss" He said and looked at her.

She sighed. She started to tell him how she found her father cheating and how she had to keep it a secret from her mother. And how he had dragged the whole family to Iceland to get away from it all, she told him that she found out that Mike was doing drugs, not that she thought he was on it again though. And that her family was tearing apart and she was afraid every time she got home that she would say something to make it worse. By the end she cried hard and he pulled her in for a comforting hug. Somewhere deep down inside her she wished that he wasn't her teacher, she felt safe in his arms and would stay there forever if she only could.

As he pulled her closer to him she felt him touch on of her bruises that had formed on her waist. She groaned quietly for him to not notice, he couldn't know, he would only go to the police and she couldn't risk that.

He pulled her away from the hug and looked at her. Ever since he had seen her at school crying she hadn't left his mind, she was on it from day until night. If he hadn't been her teacher he would probably kissed her right now. But he couldn't.

They both sighed at the same time; the same thought had crossed their minds _**If only things were different….**_

* * *

**A/N: Alright, this pretty much sucked! But it gets better I promise. Hope you'll bear with me. **


	3. I Know What I Am To You

One, two, three punches came across Aria's stomach, thighs and arms. She didn't say a word, it wouldn't matter. All she could do was keep her mouth shut and prays that he would stop when he got tired of not getting a response. A few more punches and then he pushed her against the wall and her head hit it hard. She kept the scream in.

"If you hadn't told your mother, you'd be fine now. You've done this to yourself" Byron said angrily and walked past her down to the kitchen.

The pain got worse and her head started to spin. She lifted her hand and placed it on her head. It was wet and when she looked at her hand it was full of blood. She gasped.

"Fuck!" She said and looked at the wall.

There was blood on the wall. She got up and hurried to the bathroom to get something to clean the wall with. By not cleaning it up and her mother finding out she would be in so much more trouble. He was right, she had done this to herself she thought. She cleaned it up and left no sign of what had happen. She heard the front door open. She listened after sounds that would expose what she can expect from the evening. She heard the fighting starting. No sleep tonight, she sighed.

* * *

As she stood outside his door she regretted her decision. He wouldn't let her sleep at his, how stupid could she possibly be. She sighed; it was either this or going home again and be a zombie tomorrow. She hesitated for a moment before she knocked on the door. She heard how he unlocked the door before he slowly opened it.

"What are you doing here" Ezra asked surprised and rubbed his eyes.

"I…I…my parents are fighting and I didn't know where else to go" Aria managed to get out as she looked at his bare chest and toned abs. Damn he was hot!

"What about your friends" Ezra asked. Trying to figure out why she was here and not at one of her friends. He wondered if he was dreaming.

"I haven't told them about what's going on, I'm scared of how they'll react and in the middle of the night isn't the right place because then I don't get any sleep, just like I won't if I stay at home" Aria said and looked down.

"Well…" Ezra began but didn't know what to say.

This was so weird on so many levels. Ezra looked at the girl in front of him and saw how hurt she was. He sighed and opened the door wider to let her in.

"Thank you" Aria smiled at him.

"No problem. I said I would help" Ezra said as he looked for a blanket and a pillow. "You can take the bed and I'll just take the couch"

"No, I don't want to take your bed from you" Aria said. "I'll take the couch"

"I really don't mind" Ezra told Aria and threw the blanket and the pillow on the couch.

"Ezra, take the damn bed. I'll take the couch!" Aria exclaimed.

"If you say so"

"Yeah, I do" Aria said and took her bag and walked to his bathroom to change into her pj's.

This was so weird and they both felt it. They were both lying on their beds, trying to sleep. Aria rolled around, making herself comfortable without any luck.

"I did offer you the bed" Ezra said and chuckled.

"I know, but it didn't feel right" Aria said.

"Neither does this" He mumbled but she could hear him.

"You didn't have to let me stay" Aria said angrily. He could've said no so he wouldn't have to complain about it.

"I didn't mean it like that" Ezra said and sighed.

"Then what do you mean" Aria asked and sat up and switched on the lamp on the side table.

"I meant this, having you here, you're my student for crying out loud" Ezra said.

"I know what I am to you" Aria said. I just wish I was more, she thought to herself.

"Aria…" Ezra said.

"Let's just go to sleep" Aria said. "Or else there was no point of coming here to sleep"

* * *

Aria's phone got off and she slowly opened her eyes and looked around. At first she was confused as to where she was, and then the memories from yesterday came back. Aria felt an arm wrapped around her waist, she looked at the person beside her in shock. How the hell did she end up in his bed, she thought to herself as she tried to get out of his embrace without any luck. She sighed.

"Ezra, wake up" Aria said.

Aris was surprised he didn't wake up by the alarm beeping in the apartment. Aria pinched Ezra's arm and he shut his eyes open and looked at her the same way she had looked at him when she saw him beside her.

"How" was all Ezra said.

"I don't know" Aria said. "I might have walked in my sleep again"

Aria jumped out of the bed and walked to her phone to turn it off. It was 6 am and she had to get home before her parents would wake up. Ezra looked at his clock on the side board and groaned.

"Why did you set your alarm this early" Ezra complained.

"Because I have to get home before they suspect I'm gone" Aria said and took on her jacket and was about to walk out the door.

"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. It's just…this is so weird"

"Don't worry about it" Aris said. "It's what I am. Just your student"

"You say that like it means something else" Ezra said. Some part of him hoped that she meant something else with saying that.

"I have to go" was all Aria said before she left.

He groaned and lay back down on his bed. Sleeping away the last hour before he had to get up and get to his job.

* * *

"Can we come over to you today" The girls asked Aria.

"Ehm, no, not really" Aria said sadly,

"Why" Spencer asked.

"Ehm…" She didn't know what to say.

They were all in first period English class, waiting for it to begin. The girls were in a group project in another class and needed to be somewhere to do it.

"Tells us" Emily begged. "We're here for you"

"We can't be at my home…because my parents are fighting constantly" She said and tears started to build.

"I'm so sorry Aria" Hanna said and leaned over to give her a hug. "I know what you're going through"

"How about we all study at my place" Spencer said and both Emily and Hanna gave her a glare.

"I didn't mean it like that. We can be at my place and if Aria wants to talk about it we'll do that instead. We can order pizza" She said and smiled at Aria.

"That's sounds really good" Aria said.

"Good" Spencer said.

"Morning class" Mr. Fitz said as he walked into the classroom. He searched for Aria but when their eyes met Aria looked away, this was so embarrassing.

"Aria, can you please stay behind" Ezra asked.

"Yeah, sure" Aria said and collected her stuff and put them in her bag before she threw it over her shoulder and walked up to Ezra's desk.

"We need to talk about the other night. It's weird being your teacher and then after we're friends talking, and then the next we're both awkward towards each other"

"There's nothing to talk about. I walk in my sleep and happened to go to your bed instead. And there's nothing more to us then student/teacher, you said it yourself" Aria said and walked out leaving Ezra confused as to why she was angry with him. He sighed and sat down in his chair and buried his face in his hands.

* * *

Days passed and Aria and Ezra wasn't talking to each other. Ezra didn't know why she was ignoring his calls and emails. She never raised her hand in class and never looked his way. He was getting very frustrated because he like the evenings Aria had come over and they just talked about everything and nothing. Now he could see Aria was worse than ever. She was skinnier, bags under her eyes and the giggles she always used to share with her friends before class was gone. He was worried sick about this girl.

* * *

Aria had started to avoid Ezra the minute she had admitted to herself that she started to like him. Every time they touched she felt a shot of electricity rushing through her body and her heart started to beat faster every time she saw him. She couldn't handle falling for a teacher, it just wasn't right. Sure Ezra was young, there was barely any difference between them, and he was really good looking.

He cared about her, he was the first person who had asked her how she was feeling, and he was the first to notice. Not her best friends, not her mother or brother. No, it was him. He had let her sleep at his even though he knew what a risk it was for him. She didn't know anybody else who would do that to her and that scared her. He was her English teacher and probably the person who could read her like an open book and the person who really cared about her. She was scared, that they were soul mates and she couldn't have him….

* * *

_**Posted this cause I was bored and made a few other chapters of this (I like to be at least one chapter ahead of what I'm posting so...) and because I love to read your reviews on what you think of it when I wake up in the morning. I read every single one of them and if you shared your fanfic name I always try to respond to them. It means a lot that you like my story and if you have an idea of what you would like to happen tell me and I see what I can do. Sorry for long authors note. I might not upload this weekend that's kinda why I left you with a long (?) chapter. Hope you like it!**_


	4. Suicide?

**Why are you avoiding me? If it's because our "argument" I don't even knew was one? Please answer me. I'm worried about you. Don't shut me out, I'm here for you. I know I'm your teacher and this isn't appropriate but I do care about you Aria. Please call me.  
~Ezra**

This wasn't the first text that Ezra sent her. Aria read it and then deleted it. She couldn't take being in contact with him because she couldn't handle wanting to have the one she can't have. It was crazy for her to feel this way. She was raised better than that. But then again, what hadn't her father done? He had slept with one of his students, what a great role model he was.

"Aria, will you please talk to me" Ezra begged her.

"I can't" Aria said, not meeting his eyes.

She didn't want to look into them because she knew she could resist him looking right through her and seeing every feeling she was feeling. And she most certainly couldn't stand looking into them and knowing they didn't look at her the same way hers looked into his.

"Please" Ezra said.

"No" Aria said. "We can't do this. I can't see you…"

"Could you please come by the apartment so we can talk about it" Ezra asked pleadingly.

Aria took a deep breath "Fine"

* * *

The girl had studied for a while but Aria knew they all wanted to know what was going on behind the walls of her house. She closed her book and looked at them and sighed.

"I know you that you all want to know what's going on, so fine, I'll tell you" Aria spoke.

"Finally" Hanna mumbled.

"HANNA" Spencer said and gave her a glare.

"Well, sorry for being curios about her. I want to know" Hanna said and looked at Aria and waited for her to continue.

"Well, I caught my dad cheating on mom" Aria started to say.

"Do you know who it was" Emily asked.

"Meredith" Aria said in disgust.

"I've heard that she slept with a lot of professors because she couldn't pass the courses" Hanna said.

"That really doesn't help" Aria said.

"Sorry" Hanna said and looked down.

"And I told my mom about it and now they're fighting constantly and I feel so responsible for it" Aria said and felt tears stroll down her cheeks.

"Aria, you can't blame yourself for this. This is not your fault. He only has himself to blame for this. If he's too stupid to do such a mistake, he sure as hell deserves your mom being angry at him" Spencer said and Emily and Hanna nodded in agreement.

"Your right" Aria said.

She smiled at her friends; they really knew the right words to say. This was exactly what she needed, someone to tell her that her father was an ass to cheat on her mother and that he was to blame for them fighting. Not her, not mike, not her mother. He, her father, her mother's husband, Byron Montgomery was to blame for this.

The girls continued the night as every other study night, eating pizza, turn studying into talking and laughing and then falling asleep on the floor with their heads in their books and then wake up in the middle of the night, wake up each other so they could laugh about how they hadn't done anything and then sleep beside each other in the bed and be terrible late for school the next day even though Spencer set the alarm and got super stressed in the morning. This was exactly what she needed. She needed her best friends.

* * *

"Will you please tell me why you have been ignoring me now" Ezra asked as he gave her a cup of coffee. Their fingers touched and he tried to shrug it off him, just like every other time he had felt the spark when they touched. He hated that he felt this attraction towards her. He sat down beside her and took a sip of his coffee.

"No" Aria said.

"Why" Ezra asked.

"Because if I do, I will never be able to see or talk to you again" Aria said.

"You're already doing that" Ezra established.

Aria sighed and looked straight into his eyes as she started to speak.

"I can't tell you because: I don't want to tell you because you're my teacher and I'm your student. I don't want to tell you because we can never be more than that. I don't want to tell you because you make me weak. I don't want tell you because I can't look into your eyes and lie to you. I don't want to tell you how I feel because I'm scared. I'm scared because you know me better than my friends do. I'm scared of what I'm feeling. And most of all I hate that I can't have what I want" Aria said not knowing were the words came from. "And now I'm scared of your reaction" Aria confessed.

Arias looked down only to have Ezra put his finger under her chin and make her look into his eyes as he leaned in closer and pressed his lips against hers.

She was kissing her English teacher. What the hell was she thinking, Aria thought to herself as they deepen the kiss even more. Ezra's tongue traced over her bottom lip, asking for entrance. Aria opened her mouth and their tongues began wrestling for dominance. When they pulled apart they looked into each other's eyes and caught their breaths.

"You didn't have to be scared of my reaction" Ezra said and pulled a piece of hair, that was covering Arias face, behind her ear.

"So where does this leave us" Aria asked and looked into his eyes, looking for the answer so she could be prepared if the was an answer she didn't want coming.

"I have no idea" Ezra said honestly "All I know is that your absolutely more than my student now"

Aria smiled and leaned up to kiss him again, torturing herself with how great it felt to be kissing him and how much hurt she would feel if someone found out and tried to destroy whatever this was that was going on between them. She was not afraid that he knew her better than anyone else, now she was scared that he would lose everything he loved because of her. She didn't want him to risk that much for her, she wasn't worth the risk.

"What are you thinking about" Ezra asked.

He had felt her tense up and he had pulled away from the kiss, worried why she was tensing up. Was It something he did, he asked himself.

"If you're willing to risk everything because of me" Aria responded and moved herself away from him. "I'm not worth it"

"Yes you are Aria; you're worth risking everything for. When I saw you crying in the hallway, something inside of me broke, I didn't know what or why but when we started to speak it was as something was trying to tell me something, that I was the one to save you, I just didn't know from what. And every time I saw you sad I got that feeling inside me again. And every time we touched I felt that jolt of electricity going through my whole body, and I could tell you felt it too. And when you didn't want to speak to me I felt as If something was missing. And when I got to talk to you, even for a second and even though it wasn't anything important or just something about homework, I felt complete. You make me complete. You're worth risking everything for." Ezra said. "So don't say you're not"

Tears were streaming down Aria's face as Ezra spoke, his words were honest and he wasn't trying to hide anything, he was speaking right from his heart. She felt important for the first time in a very long time, and it felt good. She smiled through her tears and he smiled back. He grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back to him. She winced in pain as he grabbed her by her wounds. Ezra looked at her curiously and pulled her shirtsleeve up and gasped in shock and looked at her. Aria quickly pulled her sleeve down and looked down ashamed, he wasn't supposed to find out, no one were.

"Aria" Ezra said and his voice was shaking.

She heard he was scared as to why she had done it. Had she been trying to kill herself, Aria knew what thoughts that ran through his head. She couldn't manage to look at him. Tears streamed down her face and she wiped them away, one by one.

"Will you please look at me" Ezra said worriedly.

"No" Aria squeezed out.

"Did you try to…" Ezra couldn't manage to say the word, nor think them. He was so scared of if she wanted to die, leave this world, he was scared that he just had gotten her and now would risk losing her because she was depressed, or whatever she was feeling.

"No, I didn't try to kill myself. Even though I wanted sometimes, I'm too scared to do it" Aria said quietly but she knew he could hear her.

"But why" Ezra asked and wiped away more tears that escaped her eyes.

"Because I was feeling like I didn't matter" Aria said and looked up at him for the first time.

"Is this because of your parents" Ezra was confused, why did she let them affect her so much. She was stronger than that.

Aria looked into his eyes as she thought about her options. Either she told him about her dad abusing her or she could make up some lie but he would see right through her and she would have to tell him or she just left him, never looking back, never talking to him again. No that hurt too much. She had just gotten him and couldn't lose him now.

"Not my parents, my dad" Aria said and lifted her shirt up to reveal her bruises.

* * *

_**DUNDUNDUN! So how do you think Ezra will react?**_

_**I actually liked this chapter, I don't know why but I did. Hope you like it too.**_

_**XX Isabella!**_


	5. The Last Punch

Chapter 5

* * *

Ezra gasped in shock and gently stroked his hand over her bruises. He couldn't believe someone would do this to his own daughter, he couldn't believe any man would ever abuse a woman. He started to get pissed and clenched his fist. It was a good thing he barely saw Byron because if he did, he didn't know if he could control himself.

"I'm so sorry" Ezra said and pulled her in for a comforting hug and rubbed her back gently, he guessed she had bruises on more spots than just her waist and stomach and was afraid to hug her to tight.

"It's not your fault, you don't have to apologize" Aria said and pulled herself closer to him, never wanting to let go.

"How long has this been going on?" Ezra asked still pissed off that Byron would do this to his own daughter.

"Since I told my mom about his affair" Aria answered. "He blames me for how things are at home. He says that if I hadn't told my mom nothing of this would have happened and we would be the perfect family we once were"

"So you cut yourself because you believed him?" Ezra asked. "Because you blamed yourself for this"

Aria nodded and looked up at him, breaking away a little bit from the embrace.

"Yeah, I did" Aria said. "I let him get to me and I let myself believe that everything's my fault. I let him hit me over and over again because I let myself believe that if he hit me he wouldn't hit my mom, which he never did. But he got to me and he made me feel worthless. A piece of crap"

"You can't go around and hate yourself for something he did, Aria" Ezra said and wiped away tears that were starting to roll down her cheeks.

"I know" Aria said and smiled "I don't anymore. After I talked to Spencer, Hanna and Emily about how I felt they made me realize that he's the ass, not me"

"I'm glad you talked to them about this" Ezra said.

"Well, I didn't tell them about me cutting myself and my dad hitting me" Aria whispered. "I don't want anyone to find out, Ezra. I don't want things to get worse"

"And here I was thinking about going to the police" Ezra said.

"You're not going to the police" Aria said sternly.

"I won't if you don't tell me to, or if I think this is going out of control, which I by the way already think." Ezra said and pulled her closer to him again.

"Promise?" Aria asked.

"I promise" Ezra answered and kissed the top of her head.

* * *

The three girls all sat on the couch at Spencer's house. Her family wasn't at home as usually so it was a safe place to talk. Aria had told them all she needed to tell the something and they had all agreed to meet at Spencer's, they were now waiting for Hanna to show up. They all came up with something to why she was late and finally decided on she was with Caleb and doing things they didn't want to know, nor get a picture from stuck in their head. Hanna came through the door. Her hair was all messy and the girls started to laugh really hard at her, they were right.

"What's so damn funny?" Hanna asked and took off her jacket and threw it on the chair and sat down on the armchair in front of the couch.

"Not much" Aria said when she could speak but soon fell into laughter again.

"Alright, I didn't come here for you to make fun of me" Hanna said. "We're here for Aria, remember?"

The girls stopped laughing after a while and Hanna, Spencer and Emily turned their eyes towards Aria.

"Spill" Emily said and smiled at Aria.

"Don't go crazy, alright" Aria started.

"Are you pregnant?" Hanna shouted.

"What? NO" Aria said. "Will you please let me finish before you make your own conclusions"

They all nodded and Aria thought about how to really tell them about this. She should've thought about something before she walked into Spencer's house.

"You know Ezra Fitz, right?" Aria asked nervously. She had no idea to say this so she just had to say it.

"Mr. Fitz?" Emily and Spencer said in choir.

"Yes" Aria said.

"Why did you say Ezra, Aria?" Hanna asked and looked at her.

"Because…I don't know how to say this" Aria admitted.

"Are you doing him?" Hanna exclaimed.

"No" Aria said and blushed.

"You're blushing" Spencer said.

"I'm not doing him" Aria said loudly.

"I was so scared for a second there" Emily said.

"ButWeDidMakeOutOnHisChouch" Aria said quickly and looked at the girls, seeing if they caught up with what she said.

"What?" The three of them said.

"Aria, you can't be serious" Emily said.

"I am" Aria confessed. "It just happened"

"How can something like this just happen?" Emily asked.

Emily seemed to be the one to take this the hardest. Hanna and Spencer just sat there looking at her with big eyes.

"Well…" Aria told them about how he had caught her crying in school and how he had worried about her and then got her to tell him about what's going on. She hadn't thought it was such a big deal, he was her teacher and she felt she could tell him. But as they got to know each other, they hadn't exactly just talked about her problems. She had started to get feelings for him.

"I tried to stay away and ignore him, but I just couldn't so yesterday I told him how I felt and it turned out he felt the same way about me" Aria finished.

"That's so cute." Spencer said and hugged Aria.

"I think it's suicidal" Emily said and got up from the couch and was about to leave.

"Why do you have to be this way when things actually turn out good for me?" Aria said and guilt swept over Emily's face.

"I don't want you to get hurt" Emily said.

"He's not going to hurt me, Em" Aria said. "I wish you could see how he is with me, but I guess that's kind of impossible"

"As long as you're happy then" Emily said and smiled and hugged Aria. "But if he hurts you, I and the girls will make his life hell"

"Thank you" Aria said and giggled at Emily's threat.

* * *

Hanna leaned over to Aria as they entered the classroom to AP English.

"He's so undressing you with his eyes. Watch out so you don't get pregnant" Hanna whispered to Aria.

"Ha ha, really funny, Hanna" Aria said and giggled at her comment. She shook her head and looked at Ezra and smiled.

The bell rang and the class started. The whole lesson Aria was getting looks from her friends whenever Ezra said something to Aria or just glanced a little. They were so going down. She responded with giving them evil glares. Now, she regretted telling them about Ezra.

"Aria, please stop making faces" Ezra said as he caught Aria sticking her tongue out at her friends.

"Sorry" Aria said and blushed. The girls giggled quietly at her and she was so going to get them back.

* * *

"Aria, could you please stay behind?" Ezra asked.

"Sure" Aria said and looked at her friends who were saying something to each other and looking at her. Aria walked up to them.

"I never should've told you" Aria said "Watch your backs, sometimes I'm getting payback"

"We're so scared" Hanna said and the three of them left the classroom giggling.

"You should be" Aria shouted after them.

Ezra closed the door and walked up to Aria and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss. Aria kissed back and they soon had ha heated make-out session on his desk. The bell rang and Ezra groaned in disappointment as Aria pulled away.

"I have to go" She said and tried to get out of his grip.

"I can write you a late pass" Ezra said and leaned in and kissed her neck.

"Ezra, please" Aria said.

Ezra groaned but gave in and let go of her.

"We can continue this later" Aria whispered in his ear and he groaned again.

"You really have to torture me" He whined like a little baby.

* * *

Aria entered her house and sighed in relief when she had checked the house if somebody was home, and today she was lucky. She was home alone, at least for an hour or so. Now was the time she could do what she loved to do but never could because of her parents fighting. Read a book, in silence, no other sounds then her turning page, or taking a breath. She'd never loved the silence before, but now with either a storm going through the house, or a serious silence, she loved coming home to an empty house and just read. She took her book and walked over to her window and sat down on the window-frame and let the sun warm he bare legs and shine on her face. She opened the book and continued to read were she had stopped the last time.

"AAARIIIA" Byron screamed as he entered the house. "Come down here, now"

Aria quickly marked her book, closed it and ran down the stairs to her father and got greeted by a slap across her face.

"Your mother is divorcing me" Byron screamed at her. "Are you happy now?"

Another slap came and then a punch in her stomach. Yes, I am she thought to herself but she couldn't say it out loud.

"Answer me" Byron demanded.

"Yes" Aria managed to get out. She was not going to stand here and let him blame everything on her. "Yes I am" She said louder.

"I'm so glad she decided to divorce you, because you know what? You can't blame me for something you did. It wasn't me who fucked Meredith, it was you dad. You, not me. So don't you dare blame me for this fucking mess anymore" Aria was no screaming and so proud of herself that she had stood up for herself but at the same time she was so scared of what he would do.

"You little…" Byron said and slapped her.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Ella yelled.

"Ella…."Was all Byron dared to say. He, just like Aria, saw the hate in her eyes.

"Byron, get out and never come back" Ella shouted. "If there ever was something to be saved here, it's now gone"

"Ella"

"GET OUT!" Ella shouted and opened the door for him and he got out.

"Hunny, are you alright?" Ella said and walked up to Aria and looked at her.

"Not really" Aria said and rubbed her cheek were he'd hit her.

"Let me get some ice to put on that" Ella said and went to the kitchen and Aria followed.

"I have to tell you something" Aria said as her mother put the ice on her chin.

"What, Hunny?" Ella asked.

"It's not the first time he hit me" Aria said and sighed.

Ella took a deep breath and looked at Aria.

"I was afraid to tell you because he threatened me multiply times that if I did…" Aria said and started to cry hysterically.

"It's okay, honey" Ella said and pulled Aria in for a comforting hug. "He's out of our lives forever. I'm getting single custody"

"Mom, I'm so sorry for all of this" Aria said sobbing.

"None of this is your fault, don't blame yourself for this. Do you understand me?" Aria nodded and Ella stroked Aria's hair. "I love you"

"I love you too, mom" Aria said and they sat quiet for what seemed to be forever, just embracing each other.

* * *

**That was that chapter, hope you liked it. So Aria's mother found out, good right? Anyway, I don't have so much ideas for upcoming chapters so a little help would be useful.**

**xx Isabella**


	6. Dinner Number 1

Chapter 6 - Awkward evening

* * *

"I can't believe my mom got single custody" Aria said and sat down on Ezra's couch.

"But that's what you wanted" Ezra said and sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her. "Right?"

"Yes, I just couldn't believe she actually got it" Aria said and snuggled into Ezra. "You know how the juries can be"

Ezra nodded and caressed Arias bicep. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"I just wished it hadn't had to take so long for my mom to find out" Aria said. "I wish I would've told her before so we would've been out of this mess a long time ago"

"But that you're out of it, that's what matters" Ezra said and smiled down at her.

"Yeah, it took a pretty damn long time though, but I'm finally out of this mess" Aria said and smiled widely.

Ezra leaned down and kissed Arias smile. Aria let out a giggle before kissing him back, placing her hands in his hair and pulling him closer. A heated make-out session was started. Arias moved herself onto his lap and straddled him and deepen the kiss even more. Ezra's hands traveled down to Aria's waist. They pulled away panting and looked into each other's eyes, enjoying the moment.

"You're beautiful" Ezra said and smiled.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Mr. Fitz" Aria said and winked. "Except for your hair, that's a mess" Aria said and giggled.

"That's not my fault" Ezra said and kissed her neck and Aria let out a soft moan. "It was perfect this morning" He mumbled into her neck.

"Ezra…" Aria began but trailed of as he continued to plant soft kisses from her neck up to her mouth.

"Mhm?" Ezra mumbled into their kiss.

Aria pulled away a little. "I have to get going soon" She said and Ezra pushed his lips onto hers again.

Ezra moved his mouth to her neck and up to her ear to nibble it. "Ezra, please stop" Aria said but moaned at the same time.

"No" Ezra said.

Aria pushed him away lightly and got up from his lap. He crossed his arm like a baby and watched as she took on her jacket and shoes.

"You're such a baby" Aria said and giggled. She leaned down and pecked his lips before going to the door.

Aria was pulled back by Ezra who lifted her up by her thighs and pushed her up against the door so it closed again. Aria wrapped her legs around him and kissed him back with equally the passion as he had. After a few minutes of kissing, Ezra pulled away.

"Now you're free to go" He said and opened the door for her.

"Thank you" Aria said and smiled at him before walking out of the door, teasing him by swinging her hips seductively as she walked down the hall. She could hear him groan and she giggled in satisfaction.

* * *

"Mom, I'm home" Aria yelled into the half empty house. Byron had been there for a few days to pack up his stuff and furniture he claimed to be his. Ella hadn't complained, she just wanted him gone.

"I'm upstairs" Ella shouted.

Aria walked up and looked around, the picture of all of them as a family was replaced by pictures of only the three of them, herself, Ella and Mike. Even though she was happy he was gone and couldn't hit her again, it felt empty without him. She remembered the happy day, the one when they were the perfect family, before Byron cheated. Aria remembered how she would come home from school and find her father cleaning the house or baking, just because he had nothing better to do. She remembered his laugh when they shared something funny they had done. Aria shed a tear for the dad she lost. He hadn't been this horrible all the time; he had been kind, caring, joyful, loving and honest. Aria sighed and walked into her mothers work room.

"Are you alright?" Ella asked, looking at Aria as she wiped away the tears that had managed to escape her eyes.

"Yeah" Aria said. "I just thought of how dad was before all of this"

"It's okay" Ella said and smiled. "I miss the old him too"

"I'm glad he can't hurt me but at the same time; it's empty in the house without him" Aria said and looked at a picture of the whole family. "We were happy once, that's pretty hard to remember"

"I know the feeling" Ella said and sighed. "But even though we're divorced and he abused you, doesn't mean he never loved you, Mike and me"

"I know that" Aria said. "I might be able to forgive him sometime, but not In a while"

"I love that about you, Aria" Ella said.

"What?" Aria asked and put down the photo.

"That no matter what someone done or who they hurt you always seem to forgive them" Ella said. "I admire you for that"

"I don't know why. It might have to do something with giving everybody a second chance" Aria said and smiled. "But I wouldn't exactly forgive someone if the killed you or Mike" She said and looked at her mother.

"I know that" Ella said and smiled.

"So…." Aria begun.

"so, what?" Ella asked and looked up from the paper she was grading.

"How was your date?" Aria said and smiled.

"How did you know?" Ella asked.

"Hm, the fact that you come home all lovesick and a smile as big as, I don't know" Aria said and teased her mother a little. "I'm happy you're able to move on"

"You don't think it's too soon?" Ella asked.

"Mom, it's been six weeks since you decided to divorce dad, and before that, how long didn't you fight for?" Aria said. "I don't think it's too soon for you to be happy"

"Thank you" Ella said.

"Who is it?" Aria asked exited. "Anyone I know?"

"He works at Hollis" Ella said and lit up at the thought of him.

"I need more" Aria said and smiled at her mother's smile.

"His name is Henry Michaels" Ella said.

"Name doesn't ring a bell" Aria said and thought deeper. "No, not at all. But it doesn't matter as long as you're happy"

"I might invite him over for dinner sometime soon" Ella said.

"You should" Aria said smiling.

* * *

"Mike" Aria shouted. "Dinner's ready"

"Coming" Mike shouted back.

"Soon" Aria finished as he came running down the stairs. Aria giggled and shook her head. He was always hungry and whenever dinner was served he came running down faster than you could say ready.

"So where's dinner?" Mike said and looked around.

"I said soon" Aria said and patted Mikes shoulder. "We're waiting for someone, so calm down will you?"

As on queue the doorbell rang and Ella went to open the door.

"Hello" Ella greeted and took the flowers Henry gave her.

"Hello, Ella" Henry said and kissed her cheek as she took the flowers. "You look lovely"

"Thank you" Ella said and smiled. "Come in"

"This is Aria and Mike" Ella said. "And this Is Henry"

Henry shook hands with the both of them and they all went to sit down at the table.

* * *

_**Ezra: Turns out I'm coming over to your house tonight.**_

_**Aria: Now I'm confused…**_

_**Ezra: Your mother invited the English department for dinner.**_

_**Aria: Really? Then I have to start panicing over what I should wear.**_

_**Ezra: Nothing? ;)**_

_**Aria: Would you like that? ;)**_

_**Ezra: Yes :)**_

_**Aria: Well, I'm saving that for another moment!**_

_**Ezra: Stop teasing me all the time.**_

_**Aria: You brought this on yourself!**_

_**Ezra: Well, I'll see you tonight. Miss you!**_

_**Aria: Miss you too!**_

Aria ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where Ella was standing and cooking dinner.

"Are we having guest over?" Aria asked trying not to sound excited.

"As a matter of fact, we are" Ella said and tasted the food,

"Who?" Aria asked.

"The English department" Ella said "I thought it would be nice to invite the teachers over so we would get a better bound with each other"

"Oh…" Aria said. "So Mr. Fitz is coming?"

"Yes" Ella said and after a moment continued "Oh, I never thought of how awkward that would be for you"

"It's alright. I'll just stay in my room or something"

"Don't do that" Ella said. "Mike's eating"

"That's only because he's hungry all the time" Aria said and giggled.

"What am i?" Mike asked as he came downstairs.

"Hungry all the time" Aria said.

"Well, beside from you I'm growing" Mike said and chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help that I haven't grown in about two years" Aria said and pretended to be mad.

"Good thing I'm big and can protect you then" Mike said and wrapped and arm around Arias shoulders.

"Right, my savior" Aria said and giggled. "I need to get ready now so could you please take your arm off of me?"

"Sure thing" Mike said and removed his arm.

* * *

This was the most awkward dinner Aria had ever experienced. She sat beside Ezra, she had planned on sitting as far away from him as possible but as all the others had sat down and she came downstairs it was the only seat available. She wondered why anyone would be scared to sit beside him but as she looked around at the others she had discovered all the looks Ezra had gotten from the younger female colleagues, they were afraid to sit beside him because they didn't want to make a fool out of themselves. Ezra had stared discrete at her as she had walked downstairs.

"Amazing" Ezra had thought to himself as he eyed Aria. She had a black dress that showed off her perfect curved and petite body. It ended midway down her thighs and at the top it was low-necked and he could see a small mark on her neck, it was barely noticeable but he could see it clearly as it was him who, by mistake, had plastered it on her neck. He loved what he saw.

Aria felt a hand on her thigh and when she looked up she got a quick smile from him as he went back to the conversation he had with the others.

"Aria, I heard you've written a few short stories" One of the teachers said. Aria couldn't remember the name, nor could she remember she'd ever seen him in school. Actually she didn't recognize any of the teachers there except for Ezra. But then she never saw them, she only saw the teachers she had.

"Did Ella tell you?" Aria asked and turned to her mother who gave her a smile.

"Yes, she did" The teacher said. "She's very proud of you"

"I can tell" Aria said and smiled but gave her mother a small glare. She hadn't shown anyone her writing.

"So are you looking at any colleges?" One of the females teachers asked, obviously only asking so she could stare at Ezra some more.

"Yes, here and there" Aria said "Haven't decided on anything yet"

"Colleges in California are amazing" Another one said. "I went to UCLA and it was amazing. You should check out their program"

"I will" Aria said and smiled politely. Aria could feel Ezra tense up, Aria put her hand on his to calm him down from whatever it was that was bugging him, but she had a feeling it was all the college talk.

* * *

**So what did you think? Love it?, Like it?, Hate it? Thanks for all the reviews I got on the previous chapter(s). I haven't had time to answer but I've read them all and I'm so thankful you give my story the time to review, it means a lot!**

**Someone asked me where Mike is. Truth is, I haven't come up with a way that he fits into the story yet. So if you have an idea of what you want to happen with Mike, tell me because I have no idea myself. And Henry will have a bigger part as the story continues. Just wanted to clear those things out.**

**Well, actually I'm going to bed now, so I've been up finishing this just so I could post it, very kind of me don't you think? Just kidding, but not that I'm going to bed because I'm tired. I had a huge test today (three painful long hours) so I'm happy I've managed this far through the evening, its only 9.30, but still, very tired and a trip to the gym and a migraine does the work! Sorry now I'm rambling, and you most of you won't even read this so it's kind of unnecessary for me to write this authors note. But anyway I wanted to say thank you for the reviews and stuff. It means a lot to me!**

**xx Isabella!**


	7. Because

_**Got amazing reviews and my smile got bigger when they continued to show up in my inbox. You made my awful day a lot brighter. I got a question I thought I would give my answer to.**_

_**Alexis: I liked this chapter. Loved ezria make out part, really funny.  
I wanna ask you something hope you can answer me: will this Henry be like  
Xavier on pll books? Because I have not decide if I like him or not. **__**Update  
really soon.**_

_**First of all thank you and then to the question. Truth to be told, I haven't read the books so can't really answer that question. He's not going to have na extremely big role, but still be a part of the story. Show up here and there.**_

* * *

Aria unlocked Ezra's apartment door with the spare key he had under the doormat. She walked in to find him grading papers, he looked up at her.

"Care to tell me why you're ignoring me?" Aria said angrily.

"Aria…" Ezra said but got cut off.

"Is this because of the college talk?" Aria asked. "I was just trying to be polite"

"I don't want to keep you from applying to whatever college you want to go to" Ezra said and got up and walked over to her. "I want you to make the decision on your own. Not choose some local college because you feel like you have to because of me"

"Ezra, please just stop" Aria said and caressed his cheek. "You're not keeping me from anything. I'm not applying anytime soon, so can we just enjoy what we have?"

"I don't want you to regret the decisions later because you felt like you had to because of me" Ezra said and looked at her.

"I could never regret what makes me happy" Aria said and kissed him.

"But…"

"No buts" Aria said and sighed. "Going away to a college in California without you would make me unhappy not going to a local college where I still could see you"

* * *

Aria walked down in the halls of Hollis. She was on her way to Henry with some papers he had forgotten at their house. He had been staying over a lot these past weeks. Aria was happy for her mother but it still felt a little weird, that it was Henry sleeping in the bed with her mother and not her dad. Aria hadn't talked to her father since the day her mother had gotten single custody and even though she was supposed to be angry at him, she couldn't but help to miss him. Aria sighed and knocked on Henry's door.

"Come in" Henry said and Aria opened the door.

"Hey, I was just…" Aria begun but stopped when she saw he had company and not whichever company, it was Ezra. Aria got slightly confused and looked between the two of them. She gave Ezra a questionable look. "I could come back later if you're busy?"

"No, no. It's alright" Henry said. "What'd you want?"

"You left your papers at ours again and mom asked me to give them to you because she didn't have time" Aria answered and gave him the papers she had in her hand.

"Thank you" Henry said and smiled. "She didn't even have the time to see me?"

"No, sorry" Aria said "but she did invite you to dinner tonight"

"That sounds lovely" Henry said. "Then maybe you'd like to join us, Ezra? And we can discuss this further"

Great another awkward dinner Aria thought to herself. But she didn't walk out just yet, she wanted to hear Ezra's answer and most of all what the hell he was doing at Hollis.

"I don't know" Ezra said nervously. He most certainly wanted to avoid another awkward dinner at Aria's house and by her look she wanted to avoid it just as much as him. "I don't want to intrude"

"Nonsense" Henry said. "You're here by invited" The look on Henry's face told Ezra not to complain and he just nodded.

"Alright" Ezra said. "Thank you, Mr. Michaels"

"Please call me Henry" Henry said and stood up from his desk and Ezra stood up as well.

"Thank you" Ezra said. "I guess I'll see you tonight then"

"Thank you for wanting to give me a minute of your time" Henry said and they shook hands. Aria said goodbye to Henry and then walked outside to wait for Ezra. Ezra walked out after talking for a moment with Henry.

"What are you doing here?" Aria asked right after Ezra closed the door and they started to walk down the hall.

"Mr. Michaels called me and told me there was a job available at Hollis and asked if I was interested so I came over to talk with the dean and then I ran into Mr. Michaels and had to thank him for giving me the chance" Ezra explained.

"And why didn't you tell me about this?" Aria asked a little angry he hadn't told her.

"I didn't tell anyone" Ezra said. "And if the interview ended badly I didn't have to tell anyone cause no one knew I was here, but I guess that plan didn't work out"

"No, it didn't" Aria said. "And why did you agree to dinner? I don't want to have another awkward dinner with you, no offense"

"Non taken" Ezra said. "And I couldn't tell him no when he looked at me like that"

"You could've said you had other plans" Aria said.

"So you don't want to spend a whole evening in your house with me?" Ezra joked.

"I would if it was only the two of us, but it's not" Aria said. "It's my mom and brother and my mom's boyfriend or whatever you call it in their age"

"Then we'll just have to find a way to do this" Ezra said and kissed her lips quickly as they had reached the parking lot and made sure no one was watching.

"I like that idea" Aria said and pulled him down for another, longer, kiss.

"I have to go, but I'll see you tonight" Ezra said and got into his car.

* * *

Aria didn't have the energy to put as much effort on her make-up or clothes and took out a pair of black jeans and a dark blue top with a low neck. Her make-up consisted of only powder and mascara and a light color of blusher. She brushed her hair and today it was for once doing as she wanted and her curls were laying perfectly down her back and chest. She walked downstairs to help her mother with dinner.

"Aria?" Her mother asked.

"Yes?" Aria turned around and looked at her mother.

"I'm sorry Henry invited Ezra." Ella said. "He told me about the awkwardness when he asked Ezra for dinner but he couldn't manage to call him back, he said it would be impolitely to invite someone to dinner and then turn them down"

"It's alright" Aria said.

"You sure?" Ella asked.

"Yes" Aria nodded. "I don't know how the other students react though. I mean; I do have the hottest teachers in the house and they might get jealous if they found out" Aria joked and her mother looked at her like she was going to have a heart attack.

"Geez, mom. Take it easy, I was joking" Aria said but deep down she was scared of her mother's reaction. What if she did found out that her daughter was having a relationship with and older guy that also was her English teacher. Aria guessed she would not only look like she was having a heart attack, she would actually get it.

* * *

Dinner went well. Ezra and Henry talked about Ezra's job offer and his writing and other relevant and not relevant stuff. Aria listened carefully to their conversation, taking everything that Ezra said in. She got to know Ezra a lot better, he talked about stuff he never had told her, not important stuff but small, fun and interesting pieces of his life. She smiled to herself and put her hand over his under the table. Ezra took Aria's hand in his and squeezed it gently and it sent a jolt of electricity through her whole body like every time they touched. Aria's smile sunk at the thought that this, this dinner that was happening now, would never happen in reality as soon as her mother found out Ezra really was her boyfriend. Aria felt how her sight became blurred because of tears that were coming.

"I'll be right back" Aria said and let go of Ezra's hand.

Aria went upstairs and into her bathroom and finally let her tears fall, she let every emotion she had inside her flow out of her body through the tears. She was happy to be with Ezra and that he was here tonight, but at the same time she was sad that no one couldn't see how much she loved him, she could only show him that. She couldn't show the world how much she loved him, because she did. She loved him with all her heart. Aria was completely in love with her English teacher, Ezra Fitz.

* * *

Ezra was beginning to get worried about Aria. She had been gone for about ten minutes and they hadn't heard any sound of no sort coming from upstairs. Ezra felt how he wanted to run up the stairs and find out why she wasn't coming down. Just as he thought about getting up Ella spoke to him.

"Ezra, would you please go and find Aria?" Ella said. "I would do it myself but…" Ezra cut her off.

"No problem" Ezra said.

He was happy that he finally could go and see what was taking her so long. He walked upstairs and looked around for her room. He found it after first looking into Mike's room and then later a closet in the hallway. He knocked on the door but didn't get a response. He opened the door and walked inside, he found Aria on the floor sobbing. He closed the door and walked up to her and sat down beside her on the floor, he wrapped an arm around her and let her snuggle into his side and rest her head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked after a few moments of silence.

"What's wrong?" Aria snorted, it wasn't on purpose to take her anger out on him. "What's wrong is that I'm keeping you from a normal relationship were you can hold your girlfriends and over the table, not under. A relationship when you don't have to have your girlfriend calling you Mr. Fitz every time she talks to you because her parents are in the same room. A relationship were your girlfriend isn't your student" Aria was struggling to keep her tears from falling down but it was impossible. "That's what's wrong"

"Where is this coming from?" Ezra asked. "I can give you it's not exactly the ideal relationship, but I wouldn't change it for the world"

"Why?" Aria asked. "Why do you want to risk your whole life to be with me? I'm a wreck" Aria shouted out.

"I see behind that Aria" Ezra said and looked straight into her eyes. "You're not a wreck to me. I know you've gone through a lot and you have to believe me when I tell you I don't see you as a wreck. I see you as Aria Montgomery the most beautiful, smart, talented and stubborn girl I've ever met"

"But why are you so determined that I'm right for you?" Aria said. "Why me? Why would you risk it for me?"

"Because…" Ezra begun but wasn't sure if he should continue.

"Because what?" Aria asked and looked at him.

"Because I love you" Ezra said and looked straight into her eyes.

Aria looked at him for a moment, letting the words sink in. Had he really said those three words? Aria looked at him and saw in his eyes he was confused by her reaction. After a few more moments of just staring into each other's eyes Aria leaned in and kissed him passionately.

"I love you too" Aria said and smiled.

* * *

_**Thank you for reading. Please review and let me know what you think.**_


	8. Hangover And Drunk Stories

_**I'm having a huge hangover today, bad idea partying all night yesterday! Therefore, if there are any errors it is because my head hurts too much. So anyway, there's a lot of drinking in this one and it wasn't planned but yeah, it matches my previous night. I wasn't drunk, but got a huge hangover anyway. Why am I telling you this? I have no idea, just me rambling. **_

_**Hope you'll like it!**_

* * *

"Aria" Ella shouted. "Can you come down and help me with your brother?"

"Coming mom" Aria said and got up from the floor where she and Ezra had been sitting for a few minutes, just holding each other and never wanting to let go. "Sorry" Aria said and smiled weakly to Ezra.

"Well, better she shouted then came up and found us" Ezra joked and they walked downstairs after Aria had wiped the mascara stains away.

When they came down they met Mike trying hard not to puke all over the floor and Ella holding him up so he wouldn't fall. Aria looked around and saw Henry searching for something for Mike to puke in.

"What happened to him?" Aria asked, but she knew exactly what happened to him. He was drunk as hell and Aria guess he had taken drugs to. She shook her head and walked into the kitchen to get a bucket out that Henry couldn't find. "Here" Aria said and handed Henry the bucket. She didn't want to be near Mike when he puked; whenever she saw someone puking she felt her stomach turn.

Ezra looked around and thought about what he could do, he looked at Aria and the look she gave him, told him exactly what he had suspected. Everyone could see he was drunk, but when he got the look from Aria he knew he just wasn't drunk, he had been taking drugs too.

"Can I help with something?" Ezra asked politely.

"Not at the moment" Ella said and she and Henry helped Mike up the stairs to get him to bed.

"I can't believe him" Aria said as soon as they were alone. "He said he wouldn't take drugs anymore"

"I'm sorry" Ezra said and rubbed Aria's back. "I'm sure he tried to stop, but as all addict you can't just stop just because you promise someone you would"

"I know" Aria said. "I just can't see him like this. I don't want him to get hurt or sent away"

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Ezra quickly moved away from Aria and sat down at the chair in front of her. Aria gave him a look that made him think back to the conversation they had earlier, he gave her an apologetic look and then turned to Ella and Henry.

"How is he?" Ezra asked.

"Drunk" Ella said. "But thank god he didn't puke all over the place" Ella looked at Aria.

"Oh, don't look at me like that" Aria said.

"Well, he's a better drunk then you are" Ella said.

Ella wasn't the person to be okay with under aged drinking but at the same time she was a person that let her children make their own mistakes, talk to them about it and tell them it was wrong and then they would never bring it up again.

"Well, we don't have to talk about this now" Aria said and gave her mom a glare and she understood she didn't want to talk about it in front of her English teacher. Aria didn't want Ezra to find out about this, because then she would have to explain everything else that happened in her past too.

* * *

The girl was having a sleep over at Spencer's house. It was well needed for the all of them. They hadn't had much time to talk to each other these last couple of weeks; they only saw each other in school. They had decided they needed to meet and catch up on everything and that was exactly what they were doing. Hanna had a bottle of vodka with her and they had all made drinks. They were all pretty used to the alcohol cause of all the times they had sneaked out to Spencer's barn. They were teenager and they wanted to try and then they wanted more and more. All girls giggled every time someone said something, most of it wasn't even funny, but with a little alcohol in their system, everything became funny. As they all calmed down from another giggle attack, Hanna's phone started to ring.

"Shh, it's my mom" Hanna said and answered.

"Hello mom" Hanna said, not a sign of being affected by the vodka.

"No, I told you I'm hanging out with the girls" Hanna said. "No, I'm not with Caleb"

"She wants to talk to one of you" Hanna said and held out her phone for one of them to take it.

Emily and Spencer giggled silently so Aria took the phone from Hanna's hand.

"Hello Miss Marin" Aria said. "Yes, we're all at Spencer's."

After getting it confirmed Aria passed the phone to Hanna and she ended the call with her mother.

"How did you become such a good drinker?" Spencer said and remembered the last time they had been drinking and Aria had puked all over the floor in the hallway of her house.

"Since I don't want to puke all over the floor again and have my mother telling it to Ezra" Aria said.

"She told him? When?" Emily said.

"He was over for dinner at our house yesterday" Aria said.

"He was? Do your parents know?" Hanna asked.

"Han, if they did, do you think I'll be sitting and drinking with you?" Aria asked.

"Then why was he at your house?" Spencer asked.

"Henry invited him" Aria said. "He had talked to Ezra at Hollis and invited him so they could talk about his job offer"

"Ezra got offered a job at Hollis?" Emily asked. "That's so huge"

"He hasn't gotten it yet" Aria said. "Henry just put him up with the interview"

"Wasn't it awkward?" Hanna asked. "It was awkward just when Caleb was over. I can't imagine how awkward it must've been having your secret boyfriend slash English teacher there"

"Awkward doesn't begin to describe it. It's horrible" Aria said. "The fact that I can't have a real dinner with him as my boyfriend like that, it kills me."

"Oh, hunny" Emily said and hugged her and the others soon joined in too.

* * *

Aria's phone rang and she searched after it with closed eyes. When it continued to ring she opened her eyes and found it. She walked out of the room so she wouldn't wake the girls up since they hadn't woken up by her phone ringing.

"Hello" Aria answered groggy. It wasn't until now she felt how her head was throbbing. She sat down on the floor with her back against the wall and closed her eyes so it wouldn't get worse by the daylight.

"Hello" Aria heard from the other side of the phone, and afterwards a chuckle.

"Rough night?" Ezra asked and chuckled once again.

"You just woke me up, what'd you expect?" Aria said and groaned as her head began throbbing even worse.

"Sorry, I can call you later if you want to go back to sleep" Ezra said.

"Don't worry about it" Aria said. "I couldn't go back to sleep even if I wanted to"

"How come?" Ezra asked.

"Head is throbbing" Aria said and sighed.

"So you did have a rough night?" Ezra joked.

"Mhm" Aria said as she felt how she became dizzy. "Hold on"

Aria stood up and went down to the kitchen to get some water to drink.

"I'm back" Aria said sounding more awake then before. She searched around for some painkillers to, thinking Spencer's parents wouldn't mind if she took one, or maybe to. Damn her head was throbbing. She didn't puke, but that didn't stop her from having a hangover.

"Now I know why your brother is drinking, you have bad influence over him, Miss Montgomery" Ezra continued to joke.

"You know, making me laugh is only making my head throbbing even more" Aria said and groaned.

"You should've thought about that before you drank" Ezra said.

"I know" Was all Aria said.

"I have to go, but can I come by your apartment later?" Aria asked hopefully.

"Always" Ezra said and smiled.

"I'll call you when I'm on my way" Aria said. " I love you"

"Love you too" Ezra said and they hung up.

"Was that an I love you I heard?" Spencer asked as she walked over to get herself a glass of water and painkillers.

"Yeah" Aria said and nodded. "You too" Aria pointed to the glass and the pills.

"Yeah, a bad one" Spencer said.

"Now, I think it was better throwing up everywhere. At least then I was done with it" Aria said half joking.

* * *

Aria walked into Ezra's apartment using the key under the mat to get in. Ezra laid on the couch with his back facing the door and his legs on the other end. Aria walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Hello" Aria said and kissed his cheek.

"Hello yourself" Ezra said and sat up so Aria could join him on the couch. "Feeling better?" Ezra asked and grinned at her.

"A little" Aria said and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Do you need anything?" Ezra asked and Aria shook her head.

"Just to be here with you" Aria said and closed her eyes.

Ezra kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer to him.

"What do you want to do?" Ezra asked.

"Hm, I'm not sure" Aria said and thought for a minute. "Nothing that makes my headache worse"

"Then how about we just lay here?" Ezra asked.

"I like that idea" Aria said and leaned up to kiss him.

"Are you going to tell me about your puking incident by yourself or am I going to have to drag it out of you?" Ezra asked and smiled devilishly at her.

"Why did she have to bring that one up" Aria mumbled.

"What?" Ezra asked.

"Nothing" Aria said. "And I'm not telling you, it's embarrassing"

"Oh, come on" Ezra said. "I've been young too"

"Are you saying you're not young, Mr. Fitz?" Aria joked. She always used Mr. Fitz when she joked with him and he always rolled his eyes at her when she used it.

"Well, compared to you. Yes" Ezra said and saw the look on Aria's face. "I did not mean it like that. I just meant I've been drunk too"

"I know what you meant" Aria said and sighed. "Fine I'll tell you. If you tell me one of your drunk stories first, deal?"

"Deal" Ezra said.

"One Halloween when I was in college all of my buddies and I decided to go out dressed as hooters waitresses. After drinking for many hours I found a pair of handcuffs in the random house we were in. I thought it would be a good idea to handcuff myself. Once I realized nobody had the key to the handcuffs I ran out of the house and towards a cop car outside a nearby bar. I ran up to the cop wasted and dressed as a hooters waitress and proceeded to ask the police officer to take off his handcuffs. The cop looked at me really confused and noticed that he actually had one standard police issue handcuffs. Surprisingly the cop took off the cuffs and I took off running into the night before any questions could be asked" Ezra told her and Aria laughed so hard she couldn't talk nor look at him.

"How the hell did you decide to be hooters waitresses?" Aria said as she had stopped laughing but soon fell into laughter again.

"I have no idea" Ezra said and tried to remember why they were dressed as that but couldn't find an explanation.

"Mine isn't funny at all, it was my first time being drunk" Aria said when she calmed down.

"I didn't say it had to be, I just told you to tell me "Ezra said and smiled.

"Fine, here it goes" Aria said. "I and the girls were at a party and drinking of course and we played drinking poker, and if you lost you would take three shots of vodka each time. I'm not very good a poker but I insisted I wanted to play. I lost and lost and got drunker and drunker and then I was so drunk I barely could walk so the girls took me home. They are beside from me good at poker and didn't lose and when I came inside I felt how my stomach turned and before I knew it I was puking, a lot. Mom wasn't very pleased with me"

"Sounds like I'll have to teach you to play poker then" Ezra said and chuckled.

"You just might" Aria said and giggled. "We wouldn't want a repeat of that event"

"Well, you sounded like you were pretty close last night this morning" Ezra said chuckling.

"I've gotten better over time" Aria said.

"I'm not judging you; I did the same thing when I was your age, just promise you'll be careful?" Ezra said seriously and looked at her.

"Promise" Aria said and smiled. "It doesn't happen that often"

"But still, I don't want you to get hurt, or in trouble" Ezra said and kissed her.

* * *

_**Did you like it? I'm stuck on ideas right now, but hopefully it will get more interesting later on, and hopefully I will get inspiration from somewhere. Don't know when next update will be, but hopefully soon.**_


	9. You Got The Love

**I was watching glee when I wrote this and then I was caught in the musical thing, lol. You'll see later on what I mean. Well, this was crappy, I can do better, and right now, I had no inspiration what so ever. However, hopefully you won't stop reading just because of this chapter.**

* * *

"So when are you coming over?" Ezra asked.

"I'm getting ready now so I'll be at yours soon." Aria said and giggled. "The more you talk to me the longer it will take."

"Well, in that case I'll have to hang up then." Ezra said. "See you soon. Love you."

"Love you too" Aria said and hung up the phone and continued getting ready so she could see Ezra. She missed him every second they weren't together, every time she felt empty without him. Even though it was a great feeling being with him, she was scared of how much she loved him. If she lost him she wouldn't know what to do with herself. He was her soul mate, best friend and the one who had helped her out of this whole mess she'd been in.

* * *

Aria knocked on the apartment door and smiled when he opened the door.

"Hello beautiful." Ezra said and kissed her before she could say anything.

"Hey, handsome." Aria said and smiled at Ezra. "You're very happy today I see."

"I'm always happy to see you." Ezra said and pulled her in for another kiss.

"I know but you are extremely happy today," Aria said. "Did something happen when I wasn't here?"

"As a matter of fact, yes something happened." Ezra said and grinned widely. "But I'll tell you later."

"Alright." Aria said confused but let it go, he had said he would tell her later.

Aria and Ezra ate Chinese food as always and just enjoyed being together, it wasn't often they could share these moments so whenever they did they took care of every second together.

"Can you tell me now?" Aria said. "Whatever's making you happy, I want to know so I can be happy with you."

"I got the job at Hollis" Ezra said and smiled widely.

"That's amazing." Aria said and hugged Ezra tightly. "I never doubted they would say no."

"That you're just saying." Ezra said and pulled away.

"No," Aria said. "You're an amazing teacher, no one can say anything else"

"Well," Ezra said and gave her his boyish smile" You're a pretty amazing student, Miss Montgomery." Ezra leaned in and kissed her, Aria straddled his lap and they began a heated make out session on the couch.

"I love you." Aria broke away to say but then she pressed her lips onto his again.

* * *

Aria stopped outside Ezra's office when she heard him talking with someone. She heard the voice of a woman. Aria got closer and stopped just outside so she could hear clearly.

"Jackie, you left me remember?" Ezra said. "You don't have the right to come here and tell me these things"

"But I want to start over with you" Jackie said.

"I'm seeing someone, Jackie" Ezra told her and smiled at the thought of Aria.

Aria smiled when she heard him say that he was seeing someone, it was nice to know that he could say that, it was nice that she belonged to him.

"That can change" Jackie said.

"No, it can't" Ezra said and was getting annoyed by her.

"I love you, I always have, always will" Jackie said. "Don't tell me you don't feel the same way"

"Jackie, I don't" Ezra said. "I don't love you anymore. You left me and I've moved on, deal with it"

"But…" Jackie started to say.

"Just get out" Ezra said, he was so annoyed with her. He thought he was done with her and now she shows up and says she wants him back, he just couldn't deal with it. He didn't want anything to do with her. When she had broken off the engagement he was miserable, but as he looked at his life now he was happier than ever and nothing would change that. He loved Aria, and nothing would change what he feels for her, she was his soul mate.

Aria hurried away from Ezra's door as she heard Ezra shout for her to get out. When Jackie was far away from his office, Aria walked up to his office and knocked lightly on the door even though it was open.

"Hello," Aria said and smiled. "Everything's alright?"

Ezra scoffed and Aria handed him one of the coffee cups she brought with her and he thankfully took it. Aria sat down beside him on the couch, put her hand on his thigh, and caressed it. He relaxed a bit but not fully, he was still annoyed with Jackie. Aria took a sip of her coffee and looked at Ezra waiting for him to say something.

"Are you mad at Jackie?" Aria asked and Ezra tensed up again.

"How did you know?" Ezra asked confused.

"Your shouting was hard to miss." Aria said and smiled lightly. "Will you please tell me what you're thinking before I explode?"

"I'm sorry" Ezra said and looked at Aria.

"For what?" Aria asked, now she was the confused one.

"For not telling you about her before" Ezra said.

"I don't care about that," Aria said honestly. "I care about her making you angry."

"Well, first of all I should tell you I was engaged to her" Aria nodded and he continued. "We met first year of college and dated on an off and then I proposed"

"So you we're married to her?" Aria asked.

"No, she broke it off" Ezra said.

"So what is she doing here now?" Aria asked.

"She said she wanted me back and all that stuff, but I want nothing to do with her." Ezra told Aria and she smiled.

"I don't care about who you dated in your past, I've dated guys in my past to but as long as we are the only one in the present, I don't care" Aria said.

"You are very much now" Ezra said and kissed Aria.

* * *

Aria sat in the schools music room and plunked on the piano. She started to play, and soon she was singing without knowing there was someone watching her.

_Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air  
I know I can count on you  
Sometimes I feel like saying "Lord I just don't care"  
But you've got the love I need To see me through_

Sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough  
And things go wrong no matter what I do  
Now and then it seems that life is just too much  
But you've got the love I need to see me through

When food is gone you are my daily meal  
When friends are gone I know my savior's love is real  
Your love is real

You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love

Time after time I think "Oh Lord what's the use?"  
Time after time I think it's just no good  
Sooner or later in life, the things you love you loose  
But you got the love I need to see me through

You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air  
I know I can count on you  
Sometimes I feel like saying "Lord I just don't care"  
But you've got the love I need to see me through

You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love  
You got the love

Ezra watched her as she took the last chord and stopped playing. He was amazed by her voice. He didn't know she sang this wonderful, or the fact that she sang. He clapped his hands and Aria turned around.

"How much did you hear?" Aria asked and blushed. She didn't want him to hear her sing and most definitely not when she sang this song.

"Everything from the beginning to the end." Ezra said and smiled. "Why didn't you tell me you sing? Your voice is amazing."

"I rarely sing and I don't like people hearing me sing." Aria said.

"Why?" Ezra said. "I would get it if you sang really terrible, but you're amazing."

"Thank you" Aria said and blushed even more. "Because mostly of what I sing is personal, I like to express my feelings in songs I can see myself in."

"Well, I think you should do it more often." Ezra said. He closed the door and walked in the room from the doorframe where he had previously been standing.

Aria closed the piano, got up from her chair and walked up to his open arms. She couldn't help but let a few tears escape as she hugged him and no one could see them.

"I love you," Ezra said and kissed the top of her head. "And whenever you feel like giving up, I'm here."

"I know." Aria said and looked up at him. "I love you too."

Aria pulled away from the hug and looked at him slightly confused.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Aria asked.

"The dean wanted to talk to me about something" Ezra said and looked at his watch. "Crap, I'm late"

"You better get going then, don't want to be in more trouble" Aria said and giggled. "I have class anyway."

"I'll see you later" Ezra said and pecked her lips quickly before heading to the dean's office.

* * *

"We saw Ezra in school today, what was that about?" Spencer asked as they walked to their next class.

"I don't know. The dean wanted to talk to him about something." Aria said.

"Weird." Spencer said.

"Exactly my thought." Aria said and they entered the classroom.

Aria gasped in shock when she entered her history class. With her back turned to her class was Jackie. Aria looked horrified and Spencer dragged her to their benches so they wouldn't stand in the way for other students that was entering the classroom.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked.

"Ezra's ex." Aria whispered and nodded at Jackie's direction.

* * *

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked as Aria let out a big sigh.

"What's wrong is that Jackie's my new history teacher." Aria exclaimed loudly.

"She's what?" Ezra asked shocked.

"My new teacher." Aria said, this time more calmly.

"You got to be kidding me" Ezra said and groaned.

"Wish I was." Aria said and rested her head on Ezra's shoulder. "But there's nothing I can do about it, so what did the dean want?"

"I don't know exactly." Ezra said.

"What'd you mean?" Aria asked confused.

"He asked me about Jackie but I don't know what his point was." Ezra said and thought back to their conversation. "I have no idea."

"Well, there's not much we can do about her more than stop wasting our time on her." Aria said and kissed Ezra's lips.

"Let's not do that then." Ezra said and smiled his boyish smile and leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss.

* * *

**So that was that, what did you think? please review and all that other stuff :)**


	10. Past Becoming Present Time

**Chapter 10**

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews I got on the last chapter. The reviews are going down but I still appreciate those who do make the time to review, it means al lot to me.**

**It seem like I've been on fanfiction too much, every time I typ FA in the searchbar, stuff, thing or whatever it's called, facebook no longer showes up as the most visited site. Is that a bad thing?**

**I needed a happy chapter so here it comes! I was listening to songs that make me happy while writing this chapter, so if it gets out of hand I blame the music.**

**Hope you'll like it!**

* * *

_**I look forward to see you tonight! Wear something nice, we are going out on a real date. Love you. **__**~Your E**_

_**A real date huh? Any details? ~Aria**_

_**Nope, the rest is a surprise! ~E**_

_**Fine. What time? Where are we meeting? ~Aria**_

_**7 p.m. Tell me a place ~E**_

_**Alright! Spencer's? ~Aria**_

_**Yeah, see you then. Can't wait. ~E**_

_**Me neither. Love you ~Aria**_

Aria threw her phone on her bead and began squealing, happy no one was home for the moment. Aria looked through her closet, threw half the stuff on her floor and groaned each time she picked up a dress but didn't feel it matched the occasion. If she only knew where they were going, at least then she would know how to dress.

Aria threw herself at her phone and started to call Hanna.

"What's up girl?" Hanna said extremely happy.

"Fashion emergency." Aria shouted. "I have absolutely nothing to wear and Ezra's taking me out on a date tonight."

"He is?" Hanna shouted enthusiastically.

"Yes." Aria said and smiled widely. "And I've looked through my whole closet, which now is on my floor, but I can't find anything."

"Well, Hanna's here to save you." Hanna said. "We wouldn't want him to break up with you because you looked awful"

"Very funny, Hanna." Aria said and giggled. "But thank you. You're my savior."

"I'll call the girls and well pick you up soon." Hanna said.

"See you then." Aria said and hung up.

Aria sighed as she got to her pile of clothes to begin to put them into her closet again.

* * *

Aria put on another dress and looked herself in the mirror. All the bruises that had been covering her body for the past weeks were gone. There was no longer any evidence of what her dad had done to her. Aria touched the scars on her wrist; those will always remind her of what her dad did to her.

Aria walked out of the changing room to show them the dress.

"No." Hanna said and shook her head. "Next one."

"This is the tenth dress I've tried on." Aria said. "It would be so much easier if he just told me were we are going. Because now I have to choose a dress that's in between; not to fancy and not to casual."

"He really didn't tell you anything?" Spencer asked.

"No." Aria said and walked into the changing room. "But my guess is outside Rosewood."

"You don't think." Emily said sarcastically.

Aria changed into the eleventh dress and walked out to show it to her friends.

"That one's better." Spencer said and Emily nodded.

"But not good enough." Hanna said.

Aria spotted a dress in the store and walked up to it, took it back with her to the changing room, and tried it on.

"I think I found the perfect dress." Aria said and walked out.

"Yep, that's the one." Hanna said.

"Finally." Emily said.

"It doesn't stop there." Hanna said and smirked.

"Why do I have a feeling I don't like what you're thinking." Aria said and walked back to the changing room to change into her own clothes.

"You don't even know what I'm thinking." Hanna said.

"Are you telling me you aren't thinking about Victoria Secret?" Aria joked.

"Crap." Hanna said. "Am I that predictable?"

"Yes." Emily said. "We've known you far too long to know that you aren't thinking about anything else."

"Well she can stop thinking about it because I'm only buying this dress and nothing else." Aria said and walked to the counter to pay for the dress.

"Not even accessories?" Hanna said and looked at her with puppy eyes.

"No, I have matching at home. The dress was the emergency." Aria said.

"How about we get some food then?" Emily asked.

"Sounds good." Spencer said.

When the girls sat at the food court Spencer spotted a very familiar person walking around the mall.

"Guess who's here?" Spencer said.

"Who?" Emily said and looked around. "What is he doing in the mall?" Emily asked confused when she spotted the same person as Spencer.

"Who am I looking for?" Aria asked.

"Him." Hanna said and pointed discretely.

"Jason?" Aria asked and the girls nodded. "Then the question isn't what he's doing in the mall. The question is what he is doing at our mall. I thought he left the town when Alison disappeared." Aria said.

"We all did." Hanna said.

"So what is he doing here?" Emily said,

"I have no idea." Spencer said.

* * *

_I threw a wish in the well__  
__Don't ask me I'll never tell__  
__I looked to you as it fell__  
__And now you're in my way_

_I trade my soul for a wish__  
__Pennies and dimes for a kiss__  
__I wasn't looking for this__  
__But now you're in my way_

Aria sang along to the song as she and Ezra was driving to their date location. Aria had kept asking him where they were going but with no luck, he wouldn't give in, not even after Aria teasing him with kisses. However, he didn't say one word about it, Aria soon gave up and turned the radio on and started to sing along to the songs that were coming on.

Ezra loved seeing her happy. He'd seen her smile but never this much. He remembered how thin, pale and lifeless she had looked a while ago. But now Aria was smiling and seemed happier than ever and Ezra was really happy for her. He wouldn't wish for anything else then for her to be happy.

She giggled and smiled and now and then she turned to him to kiss him quickly. He loved that even though she had been through so much, she hadn't given up. She fought back, Ezra admired that she got up from bed every day, and fought back on everything, a normal person would give up. But not his Aria; She was the strongest person he knows and when she was happy he was happy. He wouldn't want it any other way. But if there was one thing he could change it was the fact that he was her teacher. Ezra sighed heavily and Aria looked up at him and stopped her singing, she turned off the radio and placed her hand on his thigh as always when he was upset.

"What's wrong?" Aria asked concerned.

"Nothing." He said and continued to look at the road.

"I can see that's something's wrong." Aria said and started to caress his thigh.

"Just let it go." Ezra said.

Aria sighed, removed her hand from his thigh, and looked out the window. She wasn't going to show that she was hurt by his rejection. She didn't want to ruin the date.

"I'm sorry." Ezra said and placed his hand over hers on her thigh. Aria continued to look out the window, she didn't dare to look at him because if she did there was a risk she started to cry or say things she would regret.

"Aria, please look at me." Ezra begged her but when she didn't respond he pulled over and on to a smaller road and parked the car.

"I'm so sorry Aria. I just didn't want to ruin the date with saying what I was thinking." Ezra said. "Looks like I did it anyway" He mumbled.

Aria turned to look at him, she placed a hand on his cheek and made him look up at her.

"Don't shut me out because you're afraid that you will ruin anything. I love you and I will not let you go." Aria said. "I don't care what you're thinking about, no matter how horrible it may be. Just don't shut me out"

"I'm sorry." Ezra said. "I love you too."

Aria smiled and leaned In and kissed him.

"Are we gonna continue this date or what?" Aria asked. "Or else I ran around the mall like a maniac to get this dress for nothing." _  
_

"Yes" Ezra said and kissed her before he started the car. "And you look beautiful by the way."

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself." Aria said, smiled, and kissed him before he started to drive.

* * *

"Are we going to a restaurant?" Aria asked him as he pulled up and parked the car.

"What does it look like?" Ezra said, chuckled, and walked around the car to open the door for Aria.

"Thank you." Aria said, smiled, and took his hand in his and they walked inside.

"Hello and welcome, have you booked a table?"

"Yes, for Fitz." Ezra answered.

A waitress came and showed them to their table. Aria saw how the waitress glanced at Ezra to many times as she led them to their table. When they were seated and the waitress turned around to give Ezra the menu, Aria glared at her. Ezra saw and chuckled as the waitress turned to Aria to give her the menu. When she left Aria looked at Ezra.

"Like you didn't see how she stared." Aria said and looked at the menu.

"Does it matter?" Ezra asked. "I'm here with you."

"I know, but some stupid….people… don't get in their head that you don't flirt in front of the guy's girlfriend." Aria said and turned page.

"You're cute when you're jealous." Ezra said and smiled. "What do you want to eat?"

"I don't know." Aria said and looked at the menu once again. This was not the grill in Rosewood, this restaurant was expensive and she didn't want him to spend this amount of money on her, she wasn't worth this much.

"Ezra." Aria said.

"Yes?" Ezra asked and looked up at a slightly blushing Aria.

"I can't let you pay for this." Aria said.

"Why not?" Ezra asked confused.

"Because it's expensive." Aria said whispered between her teeth.

"Do you think I would invite you here if I couldn't afford it?" Ezra joked. "And beside whom else would I spend money on if not you?"

"But still." Aria tried.

"No, I want to do this so just smile and order something." Ezra said and smile at her.

"Don't blame me when you get broke then." Aria said jokingly.

"I won't, I promise."

"Are you ready to order?" The waitress asked and looked only Ezra.

Aria cleared her throat and the waitress turned to her.

"Excuse me?" The waitress said.

"Nothing." Aria said and the waitress turned to Ezra again.

They ordered and Ezra and Aria had a nice date, expect from when the waitress showed up. Aria was getting really annoyed with her right now. She had stared at Ezra every time she asked them something and when she wasn't at their table she was staring even more.

"if looks could kill I bet that girl would be killed about a hundred times now." Ezra said and chuckled. "Aria calm down."

"I can't." Aria said irritated. "She's been staring at you the whole night and when she's at our table she acts like you're the only one here."

"Yeah, but Aria. I'm here with you not her." Ezra said and took her hand over the table.

"I know that, but she clearly doesn't." Aria said and the waitress came up to their table once again. She asked them both if they wanted dessert but was only looking at Ezra.

"Alright, that's enough." Aria said loudly, but not too loud, they three were the only one who could hear. "I get that you think he's hot. Bitch please; he's here with me, his girlfriend. So take your fat ass and leave us alone." Aria looked at her sternly and the waitress walked away without bothering to ask if they still wanted dessert. Ezra looked at her shocked.

"Sorry." Aria said and looked down. "Couldn't control myself anymore."

"Well, let's pay before they kick us out then." Ezra said and smiled at her, clearly not angry about it.

Ezra paid and then they left the restaurant hand in hand.

"Sorry again." Aria said.

"Nothing to be sorry about." Ezra said and pulled Aria in for a kiss. "I didn't think you could explode like that."

"Well, I got that after my dad." Aria said and kissed Ezra again.

"I have to admit it was quite hot." Ezra whispered in her ear, kissed her neck and then up to her lips again.

"Then I have to do it more often." Aria whispered back. "Sorry to say this but we have to get home."

* * *

Ezra parked his car outside his apartment building. The weather had gone really bad and the rain was now pouring down over Rosewood.

"There's no way I'm walking home in this weather." Aria complained.

"Stay the night." Ezra mumbled in her neck and kissed her.

Aria smiled and pulled up her phone. "Hold that thought."

"Mom, is it alright with you if I stay at Spencer's for the night? It's raining and I didn't take my car and Spencer's is broken." Aria lied. "No, her parents aren't home so I don't think they mind if I stay. They probably just happy someone's keeping Spencer company." "Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye love you."

"I take it she said yes." Ezra said and kissed Aria.

"Mhm." Aria said into the kiss.

Ezra pulled away and the both looked out the window.

"We run on three." Aria said.

"one, two, three." They said, opened the car doors, and ran towards the porch but Aria stopped in the rain.

"What are you doing?" Ezra asked and looked at her confused.

"Come here." Aria said and he walked up to her.

"What now?" Ezra asked.

"This." Aria said and jumped up on him and crashed her lips onto his. He held her up by her thighs and depend the kiss.

After a few minutes of making out Ezra felt how Aria started to shiver and he carried her inside and up to his apartment. Stealing a few kisses here and there. Ezra pushed her up against his door as he tried to unlock it. Finally, after trying to open it a few times he got it open, walked inside, placed Aria on the kitchen counter, and continued their make out session.

Aria unbuttoned Ezra's shirt and let it fall to the floor. Ezra's mouth traveled down to her neck and her collarbone and nibbled on it gently, Aria let out a soft moan and kissed Ezra down his jawline, neck and pulled him closer by wrapping her legs closer around him. Ezra zipped down her dress and let the straps fall down her arms before he pulled it further down so it rested at her waist. He picked Aria up and her dress fell to the floor as Aria sat down her feet on the floor. Aria pulled away and looked at her in her underwear.

"You're so beautiful." Ezra said. "You sure about this?"

"Yes, never been surer of anything." Aria answered with confidence and kissed him again. He led her to the bedroom, Aria got on the bed and dragged Ezra with her and kissed him passionately.

* * *

**This might be my longest chapter so far. But it was happy right? but still a little trouble in paradise. I hope you liked it anyway :) Please review, it means alot!**


	11. Those Feelings Never Fade

**CHAPTER 11 - Those Feelings Never Fade**

* * *

**I want to clear something up. I got a comment and by it I started to think. Well, Ezra has already started to work at Hollis, he did at chapter nine, I'm sorry if it didn't come out that way, but he does. Just wanted to say that.**

* * *

**And thank you so much for your amazing reviews and you who put my story as their favorite story and story/author alert!**

* * *

"What are you doing back here, Jason?" Aria asked and looked at him.

"I missed my hometown." Jason responded and looked Aria in the eyes. "And you."

"No one can never ever find out about what happened between us." Aria said and looked away from his gaze.

"I don't get why not." Jason said confused. "Alison's dead."

"I know she is, but that doesn't mean I want people to know." Aria said.

"So you're just going to ignore what we had together?" Jason asked hurt.

"I'm not ignoring it, but I've moved on since you left me alone." Aria told him. "You shouldn't be the one to feel hurt and alone, I am"

Jason sighed and looked at her for a moment before he looked away and walked past her, knowing she didn't want him to bring up the past. However, he wasn't going to give up and it was almost impossible to ignore him since he was working at her school to help troubled kids. How did everyone she didn't want to be near end up working at her school? What were the odds for that?Aria sighed heavily and walked down the halls to find her classroom.

* * *

"What did you and Jason talk about?" Emily asked Aria in class.

"I just asked him why he was back." Aria answered quickly and quietly so the teacher wouldn't hear her.

"And why is he back?" Emily asked interested. She disliked Jason just as much as the other girls did.

"He missed Rosewood." Aria said.

"I bet that's not the real reason." Emily muttered.

* * *

"Dad?" Aria asked confused as she saw Byron sitting in the living room in her house. Byron nodded and looked down.

"I came to apologize." Byron said.

"Oh, really?" Aria said not believing him. "What makes you think I will forgive you? After all these weeks. Why now?"

"I'm not asking you to forgive me, I'm asking you to at least listen to my apology because I'm truly sorry for what I did to you."

Aria sighed but at least she could hear him out, what was the harm?

"I'm listening." Aria said and sat down on the couch that was in front of Byron.

"I never meant for what happened. I was devastated when your mom found out I had an affair and I needed to blame someone. I learned this when I went to a therapist for what I did, I felt more horrible about hurting you then hurting you mom by cheating on her. We talked and he made me realize that I became depressive because I no longer had someone in my life that loved me, they only saw my mistake and I took it out on you and I'm really sorry for that. I know sorry isn't enough to make it up to you, but I want you to know I'm truly sorry and if you want me out of your life then that's what I'll be." Byron had tears in his eyes. Aria felt bad for him, but she could never forgive him for what he did.

"Dad, we still love you. We just felt betrayed and that we became upset with you cheating is only because we care. If mom hadn't reacted the way she did, doesn't that show that she doesn't love you? But mom felt betrayed and like a horrible wife, she loves you and that's why she reacted the way she did." Aria said and took Byron's hand over the table. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you but I don't want you out of my life. You're still my dad and I love you."

"Thank you. I love you too." Byron said. "I want to make this right, for both you and Mike. I guess your mom has moved on, but I promise I will make it up to you and Mike."

"Good." Aria said and smiled. "And I would like to go with you to your therapist one time, if you want to."

"I'd like that." Byron said and smiled.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Aria asked as she entered Mike's room. "I've never seen you this well dressed or fresh for that matter." Aria looked him up and down and smiled. "You look good."

"The lacrosse team is having a party to celebrate the victory." Mike responded and put on some cologne.

"Take it easy with the cologne, dude." Arias said and faked a cough. "You don't want to scare away the girls do you?"

"Very funny." Mike said.

"I'm serious." Aria said and smirked. "What's her name?" Aria sat down on his bed and waited for him to spill everything.

"There isn't anyone." Mike said and blushed so he turned around.

"I know you extremely well to know when you're lying to me so spill." Aria commanded him.

"Fine." Mike said and groaned. "Her name is Julia Johnson."

"The Julia who was dating Shane, Hanna's ex?" Aria asked.

"That's her." Mike said and smiled. Aria was happy for him and the things she knew about this girl was that she was sweet, caring and already made Mike happy.

"I'm happy for you." Aria said. "When can I meet her?"

"Hold on there." Mike said and chuckled. "I don't know how serious this is, but I promise you'll meet her if it gets serious."

"Good." Aria said and smiled. "Now go have fun."

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Aria asked shocked when she saw who was standing on her porch.

"I came to talk to you." Jason said. "Are you going to let me in or what?"

"I'm thinking on slamming this door in your face so you'll know how I felt when you just walked out of my life." Aria said. "But I won't bother, it won't hurt as much."

"Look, I'm sorry for what I did." Jason said honestly. "Could you please let me in and let me explain?"

"Fine." Aria said and opened the door wider.

They both walked inside and sat down on the couch. This was the second time Aria was sitting on this exact place and hearing someone apologize for something they did.

"I'm sorry about leaving you, but I was out of my mind when Alison was killed. I didn't know what to do." Jason said.

"I get that, I was too. However, that still doesn't explain why you didn't tell me you were leaving. I would've understood." Aria said.

"I know you would. It was me; I couldn't stand saying goodbye to you and see the hurt in your eyes when I would tell you I was leaving. I know it doesn't change everything, but I regretted leaving you every time and thought about you every day." Jason said and leaned in and pressed his lips on hers.

Aria pulled away quickly and looked at him shocked.

"I've moved on, Jason. I don't want this to affect me. It hasn't in a long time and I won't let it affect me again. I can't forgive you but it means a lot that you came here and told me the truth. I don't know what you thought would happen if you told me the truth, but it won't." Aria said.

It was true. What she had with Jason was amazing and great but she had been so young and naive. In addition, Alison had caught Aria staring one second to long at Jason one time; Alison became so mad at Aria. Alison didn't want her friends to long after Jason. After spending a whole year without Jason and crying herself to sleep the first month, Aria finally moved on. She didn't let it affect her, she became strong and independent. Aria was happy and never thought about Jason. It may sound harsh, but she never truly loved Jason, not as much as she loves Ezra anyway, and that played a big part in her moving on so fast. Aria felt that there was someone else out there for her, and now she knew who that someone was Ezra, her one and only Ezra.

* * *

Aria knocked on the door of apartment 3B and waited patiently for Ezra to open the door, when he did a big smile spread over both of their faces. No greeting exchanged between them, just their lips pressing against each other and hands pulling them closer to each other. Ezra pulled her into the apartment at shut the door closed. They pulled away to catch their breathes.

"I love you." Aria said and looked him deeply in the eyes.

"I love you too." Ezra said and pecked her lips. "What are you doing here? I thought you were spending time with Mike tonight."

"I was going to, but then he ditched me for a party." Aria said. "Not that I mind, because I get to see you."

"In that case I want him to ditch you for more parties." Ezra joked and locked lips with Aria once more. "I love having you here."

"I love being here." Aria said and smiled widely.

"Do you want something to eat?" Ezra asked and Aria nodded. "Chinese would be the safer choice and the fact that I have nothing in the fridge leaves us to that option."

"I'm not complaining, but you should." Aria teased him.

"Why?" Ezra asked and looked at Aria confused.

"You miss out on my amazing food." Aria said and smiled.

When they had finished eating Aria put away their dishes as Ezra put a movie into the DVD player. Aria walked over to him, sat down on the couch, and snuggled up to him.

"I heard from the dean today." Ezra said. "It was about the meeting we had about Jackie."

"What did he say?" Aria asked not paying too much attention.

"Nothing, turns out he only asked me about her because Jackie had told him about her being engaged to me. Therefore, he only wanted me to tell him about her and how she's like. I don't know why though." Ezra said.

"Maybe she's had some problems that the dean found out about and wanted to talk about with you and see how much they would affect her job?" Aria said. "I don't know. But as long as she's no problem to us, I don't care." Aria snuggled closer and Ezra wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"Yeah, but it's still weird." Ezra said.

"Ezra, I get that you loved the woman and still care about her but I don't want to her about it." Aria said angrily and sat up properly on the couch. She wasn't really mad at Ezra, she'd had a bad day and now it was catching up on her. "I'm sorry. I had a really crappy day."

"I'm sorry too." Ezra said.

"Don't apologize, Ezra. I should. I know those feelings never go away." Aria said and leaned her head on Ezra's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it." Ezra said, he looked down at her and thought about what she meant. He understood that she wasn't exactly her first love. But he hoped that she loved him more then she had loved any other she been with.

* * *

**So what do you think? I know this chapter was shorter but it's either that or longer between updates, sorry!**

** I'm moving onto the last chapters of this story. I don't know how many there will be but I guess no to many. **

**Do you have any ideas for a new story I could write, tell me because I really enjoy to write.**

**~Isabella!**


	12. Embrace Every Moment

**Chapter 12 - Embrace Every Moment**

* * *

Aria had absolutely no problem with having Jackie as her new history teacher. She was a great teacher; Aria had no problem admitting that. Moreover, she seemed like nice person. Aria could tell that she was Ezra's type and she could definitely see what had made him fall in love with her. She was beautiful with her dark brown, almost dark hair, she was tall and a good figure and most of all she seemed honest. Something Aria found herself opposite from, she hadn't been honest with Ezra. He hadn't exactly asked her about her previous boyfriends but she felt like she owed him to tell him about Jason. He was after all back in town and she could run into him whenever.

"Is there by any chance we could meet up for lunch?" Aria asked through the phone.

"Should we meet up at my apartment or are you coming to my office?" Ezra asked as a smile spread over his face of the thought of seeing Aria soon.

"Your apartment is closer." Aria said. "And we could to other things there that we can't in your office."

"You know my office has a door that you can lock, right?" Ezra joked.

"It'll be useful another time." Aria joked back but smirked at the thought.

"Don't start something you can't finish, Aria." Ezra groaned. "I only have a short break."

"Well, I see you later." Aria said and they said their goodbyes before hanging up.

* * *

They ate their food in a rush and then a heated make out session begun. Ezra traced Aria's bottom lip, asking her for entrance. Aria opened her mouth and moaned as his tongue started wrestling with hers for dominance. Aria ran her fingers through his hair and Ezra moved his hands up under her top. Aria pulled away and pushed his hands away. Ezra looked at her confused.

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked.

"Nothing," Aria said. "I just have to tell you something."

"Alright." Ezra said hesitantly.

"You know Jason, Ali's brother, right?" Aria asked, trying to buy some time to think over what she's about to tell him.

"Yeah, you told me a little." Ezra said, still not knowing what he had to do with Aria. "What about him?"

"I didn't tell you everything about him." Aria said and looked down.

"Aria, I don't care about him." Ezra said very confused at where this was going.

"Well, we were together." Aria said.

"Aria, as you said. I don't care about who you dated in your past as long as I'm in the present." Ezra said and as he uttered the words, it sunk in. "Do you still have feelings for him, Aria?"

"He was my first real love, so I'd be lying if I said no. "Aria said and looked at Ezra. "But I don't love him anymore, not like that. I love you. But that's not the issue here."

"Then what is it?" Ezra asked.

"I think he still has feelings for me." Aria said.

"Why do you think that?" Ezra asked.

"Because he came by the house yesterday and he kissed me." Aria said ashamed.

There was silence between them. Ezra didn't know what to say and Aria was afraid to say anything.

"Please, say something." Aria said and looked up, when no response came, Aria got up from the couch and was about to walk out.

"Wait." Ezra said and got up to her. "I don't know what to say."

"Please tell me that you forgive me." Aria pleaded.

"What do I have to forgive?" Ezra asked. "You didn't kiss him, he kissed you."

"I feel bad for not telling you we were together." Aria said.

"Don't." Ezra said and smiled. "I don't care that you dated him, Aria. I already told you that. Those first love feelings never go away. But I want you to know that I love you no matter what."

"Do you think that maybe we were meant to be? That faith wanted us to be together?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, I thought about it." Ezra said and smiled. "Deep down I knew there was something special with you. I was your teacher for quiet sometime before you even let me help you, but somewhere I felt that there was something about you, I just didn't know what."

"I felt that too." Aria said and smiled. "Not that it would be my teacher. Whenever I was with Jason I felt that there was someone else out there that would be my soul mate. It may sound cheesy, but I believe that my soul mate is you."

"And you're mine." Ezra said, smiled, and kissed Aria.

"I love you." Aria said and pressed herself close to Ezra's body and he continued were Aria had stopped him before.

* * *

"Are you seriously canceling on me again?" Aria asked and pretended to be hurt.

"Well, sorry," Mike said and smiled. "You know how it can be. How about we do something tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Aria said and smiled back. "But I would really like to meet this person who makes you happy."

"Don't you think it will be awkward?" Mike asked and Aria looked confused back at him. "I mean you, me, and Julia."

"Who said it would only be us?" Aria asked.

"So you have been dating someone?" Mike asked. "I knew there was someone the way you have been sneaking out here and there."

"I didn't say that." Aria said and slightly blushed.

"Now I definitely know there's someone." Mike teased her. "Guess I know you pretty well too."

"There might be someone, but you can't meet him." Aria said.

"Why?" Mike asked. "Is he some serial killer that's in prison?"

"Yeah, right on the spot." Aria joked back.

"But, seriously Aria," Mike said. "Tell me."

"I can't." Aria said. "I'm sorry."

"Alright." Mike said.

"But that's not stopping me from meeting Julia." Aria said. "Have her coming over sometime and we can all meet her, okay?"

"Fine," Mike said. "But I have to go now."

"Have fun." Aria shouted after him.

Aria sighed and walked into her room. This was the only thing that bothered her with her relationship with Ezra, no one could know. She couldn't let him meet her parents or brother. She couldn't double date with her friends and she doubted Ezra even would want that. She loved Ezra more then she loved her own life and she needed him more then she needed to breathe. She wondered why love could be this difficult.

Aria wandered around in her room trying to find something to do. Ezra was busy tonight and the girls all had plans with their other halves. Aria sat down at her desk, opened her diary, and read an old entry.

**_I can't believe Mike's doing drugs. I knew there was something going on but not that he would do something like this. I feel like this is my entire fault. If I hadn't taken so much attention when Alison went missing or when they found her body, and if I hadn't told mom about dad's affair. There's so many if's that could've been different. I don't know what to do. _**

At the bottom of the page were tearstains. Aria remembered how she just found out Mike had been doing drugs and how much she blamed herself for it.

Aria smiled. Mike's life had turned around, he was happier and Aria hadn't found him doing drugs or anything else for that matter. She was happy to have her brother back.

* * *

"So how you been since last time?" The therapist asked Byron.

"Good and bad," Byron answered. "I apologized to Aria and well that's the reason she's here. She wanted to come to a meeting and see my progress, right?" Byron looked at Aria and she nodded.

"Yes," Aria said. "I want my dad back and I see that you've done good things to him already." She smiled at the both of them.

"Yes, he has taken a big step in the right direction and admitted that he was the reason for everything and he understands that what he did, he did because of depression." The therapist said.

"Well, I'm not able to forgive him but I'm willing to move past it." Aria said and smiled. Aria knew people around her were confused as to why she even wanted to be in the same town as him but the truth was that even though he hit her several times, she knew that, that wasn't him. Deep down inside of him was her loving and caring father that she'd known all her life and if she was able to get that father back, she wasn't the one to say no to trying.

Another reason was that she'd had a friend that never had her father by her side and every time they talked about it she would always say: **_"__A true father is always there. He is there to spill tears of happiness when his eyes fall upon his infant daughter. He is there with arms to catch her when she takes her first steps or stumbles. He is there to teach her at the youngest age, even though she might not understand half of it. He is there to help her color inside the lines, make her grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and tie her shoes. He is there to hug her and kiss her on her first days of school, and to walk her in if need be. He is there to teach her and tease her and laugh with her. He is always there to embarrass her, but that's part of life. He is there to tell her to go ask her mother, when her mother told her to ask him. He is there to lecture her, prepare her for the monster called high school. He is there to put up with her teenage moods and her co-ed relationships. He is there to approve, disapprove, accept and forgive. He is there to give her a big bundle of flowers when she graduates, to smile when her name is called and feel proud. He is there to embrace her and kiss her before she goes to live and learn a thousand miles away. He is there to see her become a workingwoman, to walk her down the aisle (or not, if her independence and stubbornness prevail after all). He is there to watch her grow as the lines on his face grow. He is there to welcome her home, always, and let her hug him and smell the smell she remembers from childhood, the warm, protecting, comforting smell of dad. But most of all, he is always there to love her. But mine isn't and you better remember to embrace every moment you get, because if you don't you will regret it later on." _**

And that was what Aria was going to do. Embrace every moment because she knew how many people out there who would die to have a father and for that reason she wasn't to throw hers away.

* * *

"Am I ever going to meet your mysterious guy?" Mike asked. "You are, after all meeting Julia tomorrow."

"I wish I could tell you but I really can't." Aria said and sighed.

"What's stopping you?" Mike asked.

Aria sighed and looked down. "That it was illegal." Aria mumbled.

"What?" Mike said.

"It was illegal." Aria said and looked up. "It's not anymore but it was."

"I'm not the one to judge here, I've done some pretty dumb things in my life but how the hell could it be illegal?" Mike asked confused.

"If I tell you, promise you'll keep your mouth shut?" Aria said and couldn't believe she was about to tell him about Ezra.

"My lips are sealed." Mike said and pretended to lock his lips and then throw away the keys.

"I don't know what to say," Aria admitted. "I'm dating a former teacher." Aria blurted out and Mike looked at her shocked.

"Don't tell me it was Mr. Green." Mike half joked.

"What do you think of me, going after an 50 year old man?" Aria asked.

"Then who is it?" Mike asked seriously.

"Think about it." Aria said, looked down, and played around with the food she had on her plate.

"Mr. Fitz?" Mike said after a few moments of thinking. Aria nodded in response. "How did it happen?"

"When Byron started hitting me, he saw me crying in school and asked to help. I didn't tell him anything at first but then he became the only person I felt I could trust." Aria confessed. "I was so scared and didn't know what to do and he helped me. Then I started to get feelings for him and I didn't want that, I stayed away from him for a week or so, but I couldn't. It was as if we were to magnets that were gotten pushed towards each other. I can't explain it, it just feels right."

"You know that if mom and dad find out about this they will send him to jail and you, I don't know about you but mom will be so devastated." Mike said.

"I know," Aria said. "I feel like I'm selfish for being with Ezra, because if someone would find out he would go to jail, all because he's together with me. However, I can't be away from him, I can't stand being away from him. I know how wrong it is and I know how much danger I'm putting him through but I can't let him go. I love him, Mike."

It was true. If Aria decided to be unselfish and break up with Ezra just to protect him from being thrown into jail, and never be able to teach again, she would break apart, she would be miserable; she wouldn't be able to get through the day. She however had decided to be selfish, even though she knew it was the most riskiest and the wrong thing to do, she couldn't lose him, she needed his love, his arms around her body, him telling her how everything would be okay when she felt down, she needed everything that he was, and everything he did. Because Aria loved him and if she needed to be selfish, then she would even if she knew it could hurt him, because without him she was nothing, she wasn't Aria, she was nothing. She needed him more then he needed her, but she was fine with that. What she didn't know was that he needed her just as much as she needed him.

"I won't tell a soul, I promise." Mike said and hugged her.

"Thank you." Aria said.

"Everything for my sis." Mike said.

* * *

**So what did you think? I had to change my plan on what I wanted to happen but I think this turned out better then I thought it would.**

**Thanks for all the reviews on my last chapter, I appreciate it!**

**-Isabella**


	13. Back To Old Tracks?

**Chapter 13 - Back To Old Tracks**

* * *

Aria sighed. Ezra would be out of town for a whole week and she didn't know why. Ezra hadn't want to tell her. Didn't he trust her? Was he afraid she couldn't handle it? Was it something from his past that was bothering him now? All these thoughts ran through Aria's head. She felt confused to this whole situation, but all she could do was to wait and let him handle it for himself and then tell her, because he would tell her, right?

Aria took her phone from her nightstand and sent a text to her friends. She needed their advice.

**I need a girl's night. Could you come over at seven? – Aria**

Her friends responded with a yes and by seven, they were all in Aria's kitchen and waited for the pizza to be delivered.

"So what's up?" Hanna asked and took a sip from the coke Aria had given them.

"Ezra's out of town for a whole week and I don't know why." Aria said.

"Fitzy got a secret." Hanna joked, trying to lighten the mood without any luck.

"I'm really concerned." Aria said. "I don't know if he feels like he can't trust me or that I can't handle it."

"I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready." Spencer said.

"But what if he doesn't? Am I just supposed to act like I don't care?" Aria asked. "I've told him so much about my problems that he should know I won't judge him whatever it is."

"Maybe he doesn't know how to deal with it himself?" Emily suggested.

"Maybe," Aria said. "I just wished there was something I could do. I could help him, you know? It sucks that I can't do that."

"He'll come around." Spencer said.

The doorbell rang and Aria went to open it. She paid for the pizza before she walked back into the kitchen and started to slice it up.

"What's new for you guys?" Aria asked. "It feels like we don't see each other as much anymore."

"That's because we're always busy with other people." Hanna said and smiled.

"You should know all about being busy." Spencer said and smirked at Hanna and Aria and Emily giggled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hanna asked confused.

"Spencer's lake house is all I'm saying." Emily said and broke into laughter. Hanna became red as a tomato and Spencer and Aria started to laugh even more.

"Stop laughing. It's not like you haven't done it." Hanna said and looked at them as they stopped laughing. "Told you."

"There's just a slight difference, we didn't do it on your couch." Spencer said.

"Well sorry." Hanna said.

"I had to throw out the couch because every time I saw it I thought about you and Caleb on it." Spencer said and shook the picture out of her head. "Not a good sight."

"Ew, I don't want that picture Spence." Emily exclaimed.

"Me neither." Aria said and they all giggled.

* * *

The girls laid on the couches in front of the TV watching a movie, but not paying too much attention to the story line. Their attention were drawn to the guys without t-shirts and every time they would show up on the screen one of them would sigh at the sight of them, and then the others would join in and complain on how they wanted to have him as a boyfriend. Well not Emily, she laughed at them and shook her head at how crazy they were.

"I have a girl's movie for you later, Em." Aria said and Emily giggled. "I promise I will say how hot they are so you won't feel left out."

Aria knew Emily didn't bother to much with the girls pining over the guys in the movies but Aria still felt as if she shouldn't do it, but that was also a wrong way to see it.

"It's okay." Emily said. "I have to admit they're hot, but I'm not drawn to them." Emily looked at Hanna.

"I'm not drawn to them." Hanna said loudly. "I just think they're super-duper hot and wouldn't complain if they asked me out."

The girls all laughed but were interrupted but Aria's phone.

"Sorry." Aria said and got up from the couch to answer. "Hello." Aria said and smiled as he friends sighed deeply at another guy that appeared on the screen.

"Hello, my love." Ezra said on the other line. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Aria said, a little distant, she didn't mean to sound that way but how could she not when Ezra was keeping something from her? "You?"

"Good." Ezra answered. "You sure everything's fine?"

"Yeah," Aria said but she knew he could hear that it wasn't and she sighed. "Not really."

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked.

Aria walked up to her room to get some privacy from the girls. Aria could feel how tears were firming up in her eyes and when she entered her room, they started to fall. She sobbed softly and wiped them away.

"Aria, please talk to me." Ezra begged.

"Don't you trust me?" Aria asked after a few moments of sobbing and thinking through what she wanted to say, because she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answers to some of the questions.

"Of course I do," Ezra said. "Why would you say that?"

"Because you're not telling me where you are or why you're out of town." Aria shouted as she cried.

"Aria, I do trust you." Ezra started.

"Then why won't you tell me?" Aria shouted once again.

"I don't know how to deal with it myself." Ezra confessed. "I know it's not what you want to hear but it's the truth."

"You're damn right that that's not what I want to hear." Aria shouted. "I'm here to help you like you helped me, so why won't you let me? I'm here for you, I can help you deal with it. But it hurts Ezra, it hurts that you won't let me in on whatever you're going through." More tears fell from Aria's eyes and it broke Ezra's heart to hear her say those words. He had promised himself that he wouldn't hurt her and that was exactly what he was doing now, all because he was too afraid to show his vulnerable side to her.

"I have to go." Ezra said.

"Don't you dare hang up on me Ezra," Aria shouted. "You owe me an explanation."

"I'm sorry. I love you." Ezra said and hung up the phone.

Aria threw her phone across the room in anger and broke down in tears. This wasn't how she wanted it to be.

* * *

A week passed slowly to Aria. The reasons to that were that the girls were occupied with their other halves or homework, Aria had homework too but at the moment she was to concerned for Ezra to care to do them. She had spent almost every day thinking about how they had ended their phone call a few days ago and Aria hadn't talked to him since, she was to hurt too. She knew she might act silly but she was truly hurt by him not letting her in. She wanted to know everything about him but if he didn't let her know every part of her, then where would they end? These thoughts ran through Aria's head constantly and she tried to keep her occupied all the time but with her friends being busy and everything she spent most of the days with her thought and she couldn't handle them.

It was like she was back where she started with her dad. It had started with her being alone to much so she had time to think about everything she did wrong and go over it over and over again when all she wanted was to rewind the time and not tell her mom about Byron's affair. She couldn't handle being alone with her thoughts, because if she was she would only analyze everything and make everything her own fault. This was exactly what she did now. Going through all the things, the things she thought she had made wrong, every single word she could've said wrong. If she didn't talk to Ezra soon this would turn out with her being depressive, just like she had when everything with her dad went down.

Aria looked at the clock. Ezra would be in town at two and the clock was now twelve. Aria knew if she sat on this floor for another minute it would end badly so she quickly got up and walked downstairs and then out of the house, she couldn't be in it anymore. Aria walked around town, no place in particular she wanted to go. After twenty minutes of walking she ended up in the park and the lake that was in it. It wasn't big, but there were all kinds of ducks and other animals that like the water. Aria sat down on the bench, only two meters from the water and enjoyed the sun that peeked through the clouds.

A tall, dark brunette woman came walking towards Aria and Aria noticed Jackie immediately.

"Can I sit?" Jackie asked and pointed to the empty seat next to Aria. Aria nodded at Jackie, not bothering to say anymore. If she'd open her mouth some sarcastic comment would've come out and Jackie didn't deserve that.

"Bad day?" Jackie asked. It wasn't very often teachers talked to the students outside the school, at least not willingly and they sure didn't start the conversations. But then again that was what Ezra had done.

"Bad week." Aria mumbled and threw a stone in the water.

"Anything I can help you with?" Jackie asked politely and looked at Aria.

"Not really." Aria said. "But thanks." Aria looked at Jackie and smiled a slight smile. "I have to go. I'll see you." Aria got up from the bench and started to walk.

"You know where to find me." Jackie shouted after her, Aria turned around and nodded.

* * *

Aria's phone rang for the fourth time; she sighed, picked it up, and looked at the caller ID: Ezra again. She didn't know what to say but figured she couldn't ignore him anymore.

"Hello." Aria answered.

"Aria," Ezra said and let out a breath when she picked up. There was silence between them, Aria o knowing what to say and if she opened her mouth she would scream. She was angry but all the anger had soon turned into her missing him instead. She didn't know how much time he took up of her life until he was gone, and even then he took up all her time: she was thinking of him constantly.

Ezra on the other hand was dealing with all these feelings of not wanting to hurt her but at the same time, he didn't know what to tell her; he didn't know what was happening either.

"Can you please come over?" Ezra asked pleadingly.

"I don't know." Aria said and sighed.

"Please," Ezra pleaded. "We need to talk."

"So now you want to talk?" Aria said angrily.

"Please just come over," Ezra said. "I don't want to argue over the phone."

"Fine," Aria said. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

* * *

**So what do you think Ezra is hiding from Aria? Tell me what you think, your feedback means a lot!**

**I have a lot of things coming up in school since it's coming to an end and the teachers like just realized this and were like "oh, we need to put in ten test and ten papers for them so they can get a grade." And I'm like "So you haven't had a whole year to see what grade we earned?" The teachers don't realize that we have like two weeks left. On top of everything, we have some kinds of national test, or whatever they call them! If there's someone to blame for the long update, it's my teachers!**

**Sorry for my outburst, just needed to get it out.**

**Hope you like this chapter, I kinda did actually and that's not usual.**

**Love ~ Isabella**


	14. I Have Poured My Whole Soul into You

**Chapter 14 – I Have Poured My Whole Soul into You.**

* * *

**PLL SEASON 3 IS STARTING NEXT WEEK! I CAN'T BREATHE, IT'S SO CLOSE! AHHHHH!**

* * *

Aria had been too scared to show up at Ezra's apartment. She had run off before she even knocked on his door. She knew she was stupid but if he was going to break up with her she wanted at least this day to feel that she belonged to him. She came home and walked straight to bed; not bothering to check her texts, she knew about 99% of them would be from Ezra. Soon Aria fell asleep crying to the sound of her phone vibrating against her nightstand.

* * *

Aria walked into English to find Jackie and Ezra there, at first Aria was confused but then she remembered something her English teacher had sad last week, when Aria had been too distracted to listen in her favorite class. She was away on a conference and they would have a substitute teacher. Aria smiled weakly at the both of them but. Aria could feel Ezra's burning gaze at her as she looked around the classroom for an empty seat.

"Since Mrs. Joy is away on a conference I and Mr. Fitz are the substitute teachers for today." Jackie said and smiled wide when she mentioned Mr. Fitz name. Aria rolled her eyes at her, If Jackie only knew. It was unusual that it was two substitute teachers, but since Jackie didn't have an English major, it made sense for Ezra to be there. What Aria didn't understand though, was why Jackie was there if they had called in Ezra. Aria didn't come up with a reason and shook the thought of her. Aria guessed one of the reasons Ezra had accepted to step in was to see if Aria was still alive since she had let all his calls go to voicemail. Ezra didn't look to please to have Jackie by his side, every time she said something to him Aria saw how uncomfortable he felt and now and then he glanced over at Aria to see her reaction, however her face was blank, no expression at all showing.

"I want you all to pick a poem or quote and then read it out loud in class." Ezra said. "You have ten minutes to prepare and you can use the computers in the library." Aria hurried out of the classroom and down the halls to the library to print out her poem, she knew exactly which one she would use.

* * *

As her classmates on by one read their poems to the others Aria felt how her hands started to sweat, how every part of her body tensed up, as it got closer to her turn. Aria was never nervous of speaking in front of people, but as she read her poem silently for herself once more, she started to doubt her choice. Maybe it was because she would open herself up to everybody in the classroom, her classmates, her best friends, Ezra, and Ezra's ex, about her feelings towards Ezra. It was scary and just the thought of it made her knees weak. One more before her and then it was Aria.

"Aria, your turn." Jackie said and smiled encouraging.

"By a fleeting touch of your hand,  
you light up my skin and my heart  
And I know that you are the man  
with whom I just can't bear to part.

I feel love and passion so deep  
that I'd rather spend every night  
Watching you quietly as you sleep,  
Shining softly with love so bright.

Not a crush, nor habit, nor lust...  
No, I know now I've found in you  
The love of my present and past,  
The star that shall never go out.  
There's no other power so strong,  
No emotion, no bond of trust,  
Life without you is just all wrong,

So remember when your eyes meet mine,  
I love you with all my heart,  
And I have poured my entire soul into you,  
Right from the very start."

Aria looked Ezra straight in the eyes as the words escaped her lips. She had never been more determined to show anyone her feelings more than now, she was afraid of losing him. To Aria's disappointment Ezra didn't react, his face was expressionless and when Aria was done she looked down and took her seat, not looking at Ezra again. She couldn't believe he didn't even give the slightest sign that he had understood the meaning and what she had done in front of the whole class, just four seconds ago. She felt more rejected than she had ever felt in her whole life, and he, the love of her life, her soul mate, was making her feel that way.

The bell rang and Aria hurried out of class so she could avoid Ezra, which was all she wanted now. She didn't want to feel more rejected than she already was feeling, and she wouldn't let him see that she was hurt by his reaction.

* * *

The girls sat in the cafeteria and ate their lunch, as they always would. Emily, Hanna and Spencer was happier than Aria and they all noticed something was wrong. None of them had been in the English class today. Spencer had the morning of to fix some things for something from the school. Aria hadn't really been paying too much attention. Hanna ditched as she usually would and Emily had an extra swim practice today.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked and followed Aria gaze. "I thought you two worked it out as soon as he got home from wherever he was." Emily said as she saw Aria looking at Ezra who sat three tables away.

"I haven't seen nor spoken to him since he left until this morning when he had our English class." Aria said.

"You two really need to make up and loosen up the tension." Hanna said and Spencer gave her a glare.

"It's not that easy." Aria said. "He's keeping something from me and when I poured out my feelings out for him in front of the whole class, he did nothing." Aria wiped away a tear that fell down. "It feels like I'm going to lose him."

"Ar." Spencer said and hugged Aria. "it's going to be alright, just talk to him."

* * *

Aria sighed before she knocked on Ezra's door. She didn't knew what would happen once they were face to face and she was scared of not knowing, she was used to be in control but lately, she hadn't control. She hadn't had any control since she knew she had feelings for him, he messed her up, big time. She was scared that, because of him, she had no control. What would happen with her if he decided to end it, right here and now?

Ezra opened the door and Aria looked up slowly to meet his eyes. She was no longer angry with him, now all she wanted was for him to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was fine, but he didn't, he only stepped aside so she could come in. Aria looked away from his eyes and a pain in her chest, her heart prepared itself from the heartbreak it thought it would feel anytime soon.

Aria sat down on his couch like many times before and looked around in the apartment like it would be the last time she would be there, her eyes traveled to Ezra, he was sitting in the armchair in front of her, and she looked at him, took him all in. He was just as handsome as one week ago; the last time Aria had seen him. Just the thought of losing Ezra made Aria's eyes tear up but she quickly blinked them away so he wouldn't see them. She was not going to cry, not now, not because of him. Why was the person who makes you the happiest also the one who can hurt you the most? Aria sighed and looked at Ezra again.

"I'm sorry." Aria said. "I was so upset that you wouldn't tell me what you were doing, or where you were."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you and I'm sorry for rejecting you in class." Ezra said and moved out from the armchair so he could take Aria's hands in his over the table that was between them, Aria looked away, not wanting him to read her like an open book as he always did. "I saw how hurt you were, you don't have to deny it Aria. I'm sorry." Aria looked up at him and he wiped away a tear that escaped.

"Aria, believe me when I tell you that I don't know how to tell you where I was or what I did, truth is I don't even know how to deal with it." Ezra looked her straight in the eyes and let her see the tears that started to build. Aria lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek.

"I can help you," Aria said and looked him back in the eyes. "But only if you let me in. I'm sorry I yelled at you for not telling me, I'm truly sorry I did. I out of everybody should know that there's things you only want to bury and never think of again. I want you to know that whatever's bothering you, I'll be here when you're ready to talk about it."

"Do you have any idea of how much I love you?" Ezra asked and continued to look her straight in the eyes.

"Not as much as I love you anyway." Aria said and smiled lightly, placed her other hand on his other cheek and leaned in for a kiss.

"The poem you picked was beautiful, Aria." Ezra mumbled against her lips. "I would never be as brave and do that in front of a whole class."

"Well, I was scared of losing you." Aria admitted.

"You're not going to." Ezra said and kissed her once more. "I love you to much to let you go."

* * *

**I have a writer's block; I have no ideas what so ever so, if you don't give me some ideas, I don't know when the next episode will be up. So please help me, I'm desperate for inspiration and ideas! **

**Soon all the homework and essays are over and I can focus on writing this story a lot more, hopefully. If the sun doesn't show up, because then I have to focus on my tan, I feel like an albino at the moment.**

**Hope you liked this chapter and let me know if you have any ideas.**

**~Isabell**


	15. Freshly Made Cuts

Chapter 15 - Freshly Made Cuts

* * *

**I'm posting this because I'm so excited for season 3, sadly for me I have to wait until tomorrow to see it. Hate Sweden sometimes!**

**And thanks to _purpleffreak_ who gave me a few of the ideas to this chapter. Thank you so much!  
**

**Hope you'll like it.**

* * *

Aria was frustrated, it had been a whole week, and Ezra still hadn't opened up to her. Aria did everything to show him that she would wait for him, but truth is, it was eating her up knowing that he was dealing with something and she couldn't help. She knew she shouldn't pressure him, but how could she not know, when she clearly can see how much he's hurting by it?

Aria put her IPhone into the speakers and turned up the volume, she was home alone, and whenever she was, she turned up the volume to the highest, sang along, and danced around the house.

She sang with her whole soul, sang out every motion she was feeling. She felt free when she sang, it was where she could let everything go, and ever feeling she had disappeared as she sang along.

Everything had changed so fast this year. Mike had gone from druggie, to happily in love. Ella had gone from happily married wife, to heart broken, to trusting men again and found someone who she could share her life with again. Byron had also gone from a guilty husband, to being depressive, to hitting Aria and then back to her normal dad again.

Aria herself had gone from broken to whole and that all because of Ezra. Now when he was acting the way he was, Aria was slowly starting to fall apart again. Something to do with not being able to fully let her thoughts of Ezra rest, she was repeating everything repeatedly, what could possibly be wrong? How bad was it? Was it something that affected her? All these questions without answers.

* * *

Julia was over for dinner tonight, Aria had begged Mike to invite her over, and after an hour of convincing him he finally gave in and now here they were, all five of them around the table. Julia seemed to be a really sweet and nice girl, and Aria liked her more and more, the more she got to know about her.

As Henry and Ella started to ask her all those questions all parents do, Aria's mood slowly sank. Everything that had with having family dinner with boyfriends/girlfriends made Aria to feel sad; she and Ezra would never be able to do that. Not as it was now, anyway.

Dinner ended and Aria was about to head over to Ezra's, but on her way over lights from ambulances and cops lighted up the night and stopped the traffic from coming through town. Aria saw Spencer, Hanna and Emily all standing together beside one of the ambulances. Aria jumped out of the car and ran over to them all, curious as to what had happened.

"What happened?" Aria asked but no words where needed as two ambulance men rolled a patient stretcher into one of the ambulances with a small body bag, the exact length of Alison's body. Aria stood there silently, just like the others.

No words exchanged between them, but the all thought the same thing. Alison's disappearance hadn't been real until now. They had always imagined Alison running away and sitting on the beach in a warm country, smiling and having the time of her life. It was silly, but that was how they had wanted to remember Alison, as the girl who took the day as it came and always made sure to enjoy it.

As the ambulances and police started to leave and make the night dark again, the girls decided to all meet at Emily's house and just hang out, it was very much needed after what they had experienced today. They had gotten an end to Alison's disappearance but somehow it didn't feel like closer enough, someone killed their dear friend Alison, and for more than a year they have gotten away with it, it made them all sick.

Aria sent away a text to Ezra saying that an emergency had shown up and she couldn't make it. He texted her back to be save and that he loved her, not asking what had happened, but Aria guessed he was afraid to ask in case she would use" him not telling her" against him. However, if that's what he thought, he was so wrong, Aria would never pressure him into telling her, even though she wanted him too.

* * *

The girls had talked for several hours, asking questions they never would find the answers too. It was hard for them to process what had really happened. They all deep down knew the answer to why she had been killed, but none of them wanted to think of the reason, because they all knew they could've stopped what Alison was doing, and it was something they would feel guilty over for all their lives. Now all they wanted was to find out who killed Alison so they finally could get the closer they all had been waiting for since the day she disappeared.

* * *

"Jackie, I already told you several times that I will **not** get back together with you." Ezra said sternly and pushed Jackie off him. He couldn't bear to be with the woman who had broken his heart, but as he looked at it now he was thankful that she had done it and that it had turned out this way. Of course, the circumstances and the time could be better, but he would never regret what he has with Aria, not in a million years. "I'm very much in love with someone else." Ezra said as she still wouldn't give up.

"But, Z. There's no way you can have what we had." Jackie protested.

"Just stop it Jackie," Ezra said. "What we had will never be as great as I have now. You leaving me, turned out to be the best thing that happened to me."

Jackie was so determined to have Ezra back that she would do anything to have it her way. She pressed her lips onto Ezra's to have him remember what they used to have. Sadly, for her, Ezra didn't feel anything, he didn't feel those sparks he felt when his lips were pressed against Aria, he didn't feel the same feeling of needing more as he did with Aria, and he never would feel that way with Jackie.

Aria walked into Ezra's office to witness the scene in front of her. The picture would forever be stuck on her brain. It all made sense to her now, where he had been and why he had been hiding it from her. She could feel how her heart broke into thousand pieces and Ezra could see it in her eyes.

Ezra had pushed Jackie of him as soon as Jackie's lips had touched his but Aria had seen the kiss anyway. Ezra turned to Aria but she excused her and ran out from there. Ezra would've ran after her but then he remembered Jackie and if he ran after Aria, he would totally blow his whole relationship up and never be able to save it, because if someone got the knowledge of this, he would end up in jail.

Jackie left the office and as soon as she was out of sight, Ezra took off after Aria. He had to make this right, he had to make her believe that he hadn't kissed Jackie, it was the other way around. Somehow, Ezra knew it wouldn't be that easy, her dad had cheated and Ezra knew Aria had a hard time letting people in and trusting them. Ezra was afraid he had broken that trust forever.

"Aria, please listen to me." Ezra shouted as he saw her running towards her car. He caught up with her and stopped her by pulling her by the arm. "Please."

"Why should I listen, huh?" Aria cried out. "It all makes sense; why you haven't told me were you where, why you're keeping it from me. It all makes fucking sense to me now. How could you? I trusted you and this is what you do to me."

"It wasn't like that Aria. I wasn't with Jackie. You have to believe me." Ezra said pleadingly.

"How can I believe you, if you can't tell me? Tell me where you were, Ezra." Aria sobbed out.

"I can't." Ezra said and looked away ashamed. How could he not tell the girl he loved what was going on, how could he be such a coward. Instead, he would push her away and make her believe he was cheating. How stupid was he?

"That's what I thought." Aria said and walked away from him and when he took her by her arm again she shook it off of her and continued to her car, got into it and drove away, not looking at Ezra.

* * *

Aria laid on her bed crying her eyes out, she had been crying constantly for three hours and nothing seemed to make her stop. Not her mother cheering her up, not Mike, even Henry tried. Henry walked into her room once again.

"Everyone's worried about you, Aria." Henry said and closed the door. Aria's crying turned into sobs, but she still didn't answer. She only turned around in her bed to look at him.

"What happened?" Henry asked.

"I can't tell you." Aria said between sobs.

"Why not?" Henry asked. "We are here to help you Aria."

"I can't, okay?" Aria said. "Can you please get out now?"

Henry sighed but did, as she wanted.

Aria's phone started to vibrate on her nightstand. She took it up and looked at it; Ezra again. Aria had lost count on how many times he had called her but she was still too upset about everything. She couldn't believe how she could be this stupid. How could she not see this coming, everyone she know has let her down in one or another way and she was tired of it.

It wasn't weird that she had ended up on her bathroom floor cutting herself and she was about to go the same path again. Everything had blown up, Alison's body was found and Ezra had broken her trust, she didn't know what she was living for anymore.

Flashback:

_The bathroom floor was hard and cold as she sat on the floor with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her sobs were the only sound echoing all around her. She stood up, wiped away the last tears that escaped from her eyes. With the last forces she had she turned on the tap and cold water poured out. She held her hands under the tap and let them be filled with the cold water while the blood from her hands was washed away. She brought her hands to her face and splashed the now icy water on her face. She looked up slowly, looking in the mirror and became afraid of her own reflection, she did not recognize herself. Her eyelids were fluffy and eyes bloodshot from crying the whole night until now, two in the afternoon. She did not like what she saw. Formerly she had been the lucky girl who seemed to have no problems, the girl who was caring and always there for her friends, the girl who had the perfect life. She frowned._

_"Perfect life, yeah sure" was heard in the room, but if you know her and heard her voice, you would never have guessed that it was her, her voice was fragile, sad, devastated._

_She rooted around in the bathroom cabinets for a bandage to stop the blood with. She regretted it afterwards, she didn't want kill herself, just see the pain, not feel it within and not know where it was. A cut in each wrist showed her pain and dropped the thought of the pain inside, she saw it and knew where it was, where it would always appear. The scars on her wrists, forever visible, too always remind her of what she went through._

This time Aria didn't regret it, she let the blood flow out from the newly made cuts. Aria became dizzy, she saw the blood leave her body, and then she passed out.

* * *

**Sorry for the cliffhanger, guys!**

**Well, I didn't want Aria to be the jealous type and be all crazy when Jackie kissed Ezra, I've read to many stories about that, but then it just fitted with the story and Ezra's secret and well then she became crazy! Sorry.**

**Hope you liked it and please review. I don't get as many reviews as I used to and I think it's sad because I put my soul into this story and I know you appreciate it, I do, but it would be really nice if you commented and told me it instead. I want to have a smile on my face, especially since I'm having a hard time now. This story is was makes me going! **

**Thank you for reading! Love you all!**


	16. Broken

**I'm sorry for the wait, guys. I have been really busy and stuff so this kind of came second. Finally all my schoolwork is done and I can enjoy being free until August.**

* * *

**Chapter 16 - Broken**

* * *

Aria's eyes opened and met a bright light and she closed them again. She opened them slowly and let them get used to the light. The walls were white and she laid on a hard bed. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was blood streaming down on her bathroom floor before she passed out. She lifted her head to look at her wrists. Bandages were wired around them. A monitor beeped beside her, reading her heart rate. A nurse came into the room to check on her.

"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked.

"Numb." Aria answered.

"It's understandable, you lost a lot of blood because when you cut yourself you also cut of a large vein." The nurse explained. "You're very lucky your mom found you when she did or else you would be dead. "

_Wish I were. _Aria thought. Ella, Mike, and Henry walked into the room relieved that Aria was alive.

"Oh, Honey, "Ella said. "We were so worried."

"I'm sorry." Aria said quietly. She actually didn't regret it, the only thing she regretted was hurting her family. Aria looked around the room and didn't see her dad. "Where's dad?" Aria asked.

"He felt too guilty to come." Ella said. "He blames himself for what you did. He thinks it his fault."

"It's not." Aria said.

"Then why did you do it." Ella asked, she wanted to know the answer but at the same time, she didn't. Aria didn't respond and Henry was getting frustrated.

"I think you own her an explanation, Aria. So start talking." Henry said and Aria ignored him. "You can't put us through something like this and then not tell us why." Henry was almost screaming now.

"Screaming won't make this better." Mike said to Henry. Henry shook his head and walked out.

"I'll be right back." Ella said and walked after Henry.

"Why, Aria? Why?" Mike asked with tears in his eyes.

"Everything in my life was going wrong. Dad abused me, I did get past it, but deep down I still feel scared that it will happen again. Alison's body was found, she was killed Mike, she didn't just run away, she was killed. Ezra cheated on me, something he promised he would never do to me, he knew that my dad cheated and promised her wouldn't do it again. Everyone had broken me into pieces and let me pick up the pieces by myself." Aria told him. "I didn't feel like living, it would be less painful. I didn't want to hurt you though, I just wanted to disappear. Sometimes I wish it was me instead of Alison. I'm really sorry Mike." Aria was now crying. Mike got up from his seat and hugged Aria.

"It's going to be alright, Aria." Mike said. "I'll always be here for you."

"Thank you." Aria said sobbing.

* * *

Spencer, Hanna, and Emily paid her a visit. All just as curious as Aria's family, as to why she had done it. She told the same story as she had to Mike. They all stayed and talked for a few hours about everything and by the time they left Aria felt better and happy that her mother had found her before it were too late.

Aria felt guilty for doing what she had done, she didn't knew it had hurt them so much until she had seen their faces when she had woken up. Aria had been selfish to try to take her life, it wouldn't just be her leaving earth, because now she knew how much everyone else was blaming their selves for what she had done, and she didn't want them to.

Emily, Hanna, and Spencer met up outside the hospital and they all agreed they had to talk to Ezra about what really happened. They all saw how Aria was dealing with not having Ezra in her life, and she wasn't too good at surviving, she had for crying out loud almost taken her life. Spencer volunteered to go and talk to Ezra and she would go there tomorrow since it was getting late now.

* * *

Spencer knocked on Ezra's office door; she walked in when she heard him say for her to come in.

"Hello." Spencer said as she entered.

"Hey, what are you doing here, Spencer?" Ezra asked surprised.

"I need to talk to you about Aria." Spencer said. "We know about you two and I just wanted to tell you something." Ezra looked surprised but didn't say anything about them knowing.

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked and mentioned for her to sit down on the couch.

"She's in the hospital." Spencer said.

"Why? What happened?" Ezra asked worried.

"She tried to kill herself." Spencer said and looked away.

"Why?" Ezra asked. He couldn't believe Aria had done it again.

"I don't think I should tell you, but you need to go and see her." Spencer said.

"How? I can't just show up there, her parents will suspect something." Ezra said and thought of a way to get to the hospital and see Aria without her parents finding out.

"We have a plan." Spencer said and Ezra looked at her confused. "Be at the hospital at eight and we'll help you."

"Alright, thank you for telling me, Spencer." Ezra said and led Spencer to the door.

"I think you have the right to know." Spencer said. "She has a way of pushing away the people she loves the most when she gets hurt, she's been broken so many times and it hurts me just as much every time I see someone hurting her. I know you are the one to fix her." With that, Spencer left.

* * *

As Ezra was on the way to the hospital, he couldn't stop thinking about why Aria had tried to take her life again. He was the only one who knew she had done it the first time. He thought of many possible reasons. Had her father started beating her again or was it Henry? However, the reason he didn't dare to think about was the one he thought was the most reasonable, he was the reason, or to be more exactly Jackie in addition to him not telling her where he had been or what he had done. He was hoping she would listen to him and that she finally would heal.

Ezra entered the hospital and met up with Aria's friends. They told him that Mike had convinced her parents that Aria needed to rest and it was no use to stay at the hospital over the night and after talking to Aria, they had finally agreed. Spencer had talked to Wren, she knew him since he had been dating Melisa. He had given into Spencer and Spencer had then snuck Ezra into Aria's room.

Ezra walked into her room and sat down on the chair next to her. Aria was sleeping and he didn't want to wake her. He took her hand in his hand held it tightly.

"Why, Aria?" Ezra whispered. Aria wake up and took her hand out of Ezra's hand.

"Because you broke me." Aria said and looked away.

"I'm sorry, Aria." Ezra said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was. I feel so much guilt for not telling you, I wish I could turn back the time and make everything alright."

"You can't, Ezra." Aria said. "I don't think I can ever trust you again. You knew about my dad and still you do this to me."

"Aria, please believe me when I tell you that I wasn't with Jackie. I love you and only you." Ezra said. "And what you saw in my office was her kissing me not the other way around. Please, Aria I never wanted to hurt you."

"But you did." Aria said.

"I can see that." Ezra said and looked away to hide the tears that threatened to escape. "You promised you wouldn't do this, Aria." He turned to look at her again and she saw his tears.

"And you promised to never break my heart, but you still did." Aria said.

"That's not fair, Aria." Ezra was getting angry that she couldn't see he was telling the truth, he was afraid of losing her over something he hadn't done. "Aria, I did not cheat on you! I can't lose you over something I didn't do. If this is how I'm going to lose you then I would've wished I would have cheated on you, at least then I would have a reason, but Aria, baby, I didn't do anything." Ezra had tears streaming down his face. He knew why she was acting this way, she had trust issues, but he hoped so deeply she could see the honesty in his eyes.

"But how can I trust you when you won't tell me where you were?" Aria asked. "I love you, but if you can't trust me, there's no way we'll make this through."

"Aria, I trust you more than I have ever trusted anyone else, but baby please I can't tell you I'm not ready." Ezra said. "Please believe me."

Aria started crying hysterically. She didn't know what she would believe, but as she looked into those ice blue eyes she saw the hurt and the honesty in them.

"Damn you, Ezra Fitz." Aria cried out and slapped away his hand that held hers. She continued to cry and Ezra pulled her in for a hug, which she at the beginning refused, but soon let in and let him embrace him. "Why do you make me love you so much?"

"Aria, I promise I will tell you, I can't lose you." Ezra said and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry Ezra, It just hurts that I can't help you." Aria said.

"Aria, you are the one that needs help right now." Ezra said. "God, I don't know what I would do if your mother hadn't found you."

"I'm so sorry." Aria said. "I wasn't surviving without you. I was on the edge of collapsing when I came by your office, and when I saw you and Jackie everything fell apart and I said things I shouldn't have said. I'm sorry. I love you so much and I don't know what I would do without you."

"I love you too." Ezra said and pecked her lips. "Never scare me like this again. I don't want a repeat of this. The first time was enough."

"At least that wasn't because of you." Aria said and saw the hurt in Ezra's eyes. "Sorry."

"It's true, though." Ezra said and Aria could see the guilt in his eyes.

"Please, don't blame yourself." Aria said. "It wasn't just because of you."

"Nothing can make the guilt go away, Aria." Ezra said and tears started to build again. "I will always feel guilty for this."

"Don't, Ezra." Aria said. "It wasn't all because of you as I said."

"Then what?" Ezra asked.

"My best friend Alison was found." Aria said and Ezra looked at her confused.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Ezra asked. Aria remembered she hadn't told him the story because if she did she would have to tell him everything. She knew this went against everything with Ezra not telling her, but she thought he knew, didn't he read the newspaper?

"It was her body, Ezra." Aria said. "She disappeared for more than a year ago and they found it. It was horrible."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ezra asked. She knew what he was thinking. How could she be mad at him for keeping something from him, but when he did hell broke out?

"I thought I told you, and if I haven't I thought you read the newspapers but I never talk about it, because something's you just want to sweep under the mat and never think of again." Aria said. "It was horrible and we had moved on until her body showed up and everything came back, everything we never wanted to talk about again had disappeared with Alison."

"I'm sorry." Ezra said.

"I need to tell you the whole story but for now I just want to enjoy that I have you by my side." Aria said and smile.

"I promise I will never leave you." Ezra said.

"Let's not make promises." Aria said and pulled Ezra up to the bed, he lay down beside her, and they soon fell asleep.

* * *

**Sorry I haven't answered to your reviews, I have read all of them though. Hope you liked this and please review! Those are what keeps me writing! Love you all!**

**Just a little note: I love to get constructive critic, I do. But If you comment things like OK….. LAME, K, or just … on every single chapter, then you are wasting your own time! If you think its lame or whatever, don't read it, it's just so immature!**


	17. Vulnerable

**Alright, so here's chapter 17. I'm so sorry for the wait, but I've had extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely, you get the point, much to do. I wanted to finish this chapter but I never got the time and then when it was done, I didn't have time to go onto the internet for long. Well, enough about the excuses and I will let you move onto the story instead.**

**YOU WILL FIND OUT WHAT EZRA HAS BEEN HIDING. AWESOME, RIGHT?**

* * *

**Chapter 17 - Vulnerable**

* * *

Aria was free to leave the hospital but Ella had refused to let her leave unless Aria got a supervisor that she would meet up with once every two week. Aria had refused to have a supervisor and would rather stay at the hospital but her mother hadn't budge and soon Aria had to give in.

Aria saw her friends standing at the porch of her house when they came closer. Aria didn't feel much for talking to anyone right now, she was too angry at her mother at the moment. Aria walked up to them, didn't even bother to smile when she said hello, and hugged them all.

"I thought you could use a girls night." Spencer said.

"I really appreciate the thought but," Aria started.

"No buts," Emily said. "We want our old Aria back, the one that must have disappeared."

Aria looked at them and then she broke down, she cried hysterically and nothing seemed to make her stop. She fell to her knees and cried even more. The girls panicked and tried to get Aria up from the ground. After a few attempts, they got her up on her feet and helped her up to her room.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess." Aria said when she had calmed down a bit. "I don't know what's happening to me anymore."

"You've been through a lot, it's normal to feel that way." Hanna said.

"That's why it's easier to just leave." Aria said looking down and picking at her nail polish.

"Aria," Spencer said almost crying. "We are here to help you, we are here when you are feeling the worst. Just please talk to us."

"I don't know what to say," Aria said and looked up. "I'm not that perfect girl everybody thinks I am. Everyone came to me with his or her problems but no one never ever asked me how I was feeling. All these people surrounded me, but still I felt lonely. I was always the one staying strong and putting up a fake front, not to disappoint anyone. Alison disappeared, my family blew up and my dad started hitting me, Mike was doing drugs. I was dating my teacher. I want to go back to the time were the only problem was which Barbie I was going to wish for my birthday."

"Aria," Emily said. "We don't want to lose another friend. Talk to us next time. We are here for you no matter what."

"I know you are," Aria said. "I'm just so afraid."

"Of what?" Spencer asked.

"Being vulnerable." Aria confessed.

* * *

"Mom, I'm going out." Aria yelled and opened the door.

"Come back here young lady." Ella said. Aria sighed loudly and closed the door.

"What? I can't leave the house anymore?" Aria said annoyed.

"You can, but you need to tell me where you're going." Ella said and Aria groaned. "I just want you to be safe."

"I won't try to kill myself, alright." Aria said irritated by her mother. "Can I please go now?"

Ella looked at Aria and sighed when she saw that Aria wouldn't budge. "Fine." Ella said and Aria left the house.

* * *

Aria knocked on the familiar door she had knocked on so many times before. She smiled as Ezra opened the door. He was amazing in every single way and he was all hers. She tip toed so she could reach his lips and plant a gentle peck on them.

"Hey." Aria said and smiled. Ezra smiled back lightly before letting her in. "What's wrong?" Aria asked when she noticed his messy apartment and when she turned to Ezra, she could clearly see that he had been crying. She walked up to him and place one of her hands on his cheek to caress it and make him look at her since he was avoiding her look, avoiding to let her see that he was vulnerable.

"I have never seen you cry for real, Ezra. Not when you saw the cut on my arm, not when I tried to kill myself, not until now." Aria said and brushed her tum under his eye. "Please tell me what's wrong." Aria whispered.

"My brother died." Ezra said in a whisper.

"Oh, Ezra." Aria exclaimed and pulled him with her to the couch to sit down. She let him rest his head on her shoulder. She put an arm around him and stroked his hair. "I'm so sorry."

They sat in silence for what seemed to be forever but it was only for an hour. Ezra had shed a few tears, as well had Aria. She hated seeing him sad, but she felt relieved that he felt like he could cry in front of her and let her see him vulnerable.

"I was in New York." Ezra finally said, breaking the silence. Aria continued to stroke his hair, saying nothing, only waiting for him to continue on his own. "My brother was stabbed with a knife in a gang fight and they weren't certain if he would make it or not." Ezra paused and looked up at Aria. He sat up, facing her and taking her hands in his, as he looked her in the eyes. "I went to be with him at the hospital. I didn't tell you because I didn't know how to feel, I didn't want it to be real"

"If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist." Aria said and smiled weakly at him.

"Exactly." Ezra said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Ezra looked away.

Aria loosened her hand from his, placed it on his cheek to make him look at her again. "Hey, look at me." Aria said softly. "Don't worry about it. I love you and I'm here to help you through this, okay?"

"Okay." Ezra said and smiled for real for the first time since Aria had entered his apartment.

* * *

**Could you do me a big favor? Please? – Aria**

**Thought I already did that by bringing E to the hospital. – Spencer**

**I owe you for a lifetime for that. Please be my alibi for tonight? – Aria**

**I'll remember that. Yes, I will be your alibi. Have fun!– Spencer**

**Thank you, thank you, and thank you. Love you. –Aria**

**Love you too. –Spencer**

Aria smiled and dialed her mother's number.

"Hello, Honey." Ella said. "Is everything alright?"

"Hey," Aria said. "Thing is, everything's not alright. I need to help a friend in need tonight."

"Stop speaking in paragraphs honey." Ella said and giggled lightly.

"Spencer has boy issues and she needs my help, so can I stay over at hers tonight?" Aria said and got scared of how easily she could lie to her mother, she hated it.

"As long as it's alright with Spencer's parents." Ella said.

"Thank you." Aria said. "See you tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you too." Ella said.

Aria hung up her phone, walked over to Ezra's dresser, pulled out one of his t-shirts, and changed into it. She walked back to the couch, sat down on it, and looked through the channels for something to watch, without any luck.

"I'm not complaining, I could get used to this, but aren't you supposed to be home this time?" Ezra asked when he came out from the bathroom and saw her sitting on his couch in only his t-shirt.

"Change of plans." Aria said and turned to look at him seductively. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I thought you could use some company." Aria winked and leaned in for a kiss and when their lips were millimeters from touching, she pulled away and backed away.

"Tease." Ezra said and pulled her back by pulling her arm. He picked her up under the thighs and walked towards the bed. He smirked at her before kissing her deeply. Aria pulled of Ezra's t-shirt; the exact same Aria was wearing, and threw it on the floor, followed by her own that Ezra pulled off.

* * *

Aria woke up in the middle of the night. She looked around and saw Ezra sleeping peacefully beside her. She couldn't believe what had happened to Ezra's brother. He must be feeling such loss. Aria stroked his cheek with her palm, kissed his cheek, and got out of bed without waking him up. She put on her panties and Ezra's shirt, walked over to the window, sat down on the frame, and looked out.

She followed birds with her eyes that were flying around outside. Aria was alone with her thoughts, something she hated to be. She thought about how she would feel if she lost Mike, her only brother, her only sibling. She would be devastated. She didn't know how close Ezra and his brother were, but it must hurt just as much no matter how close you are.

Aria felt tears escape from her eyes and she let them roll down her cheeks. She had almost made Mike sister less, how could she put him in that position? She was so damn selfish. If Mike had killed himself, she would be lost, and that was exactly what everybody else would be if she died too. She hadn't realized this until now. She was selfish, all she cared about was herself, how could people care about someone so selfish as her?

Aria sobbed and wiped away her tears. She looked at the birds again. They have such a simple life, she thought. Just flying around and not caring about anything that human do. Aria felt two arms wrap around her waist. She leaned against his chest and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked against Aria's head. He hated seeing the love of his life hurting. Hated seeing her heart breaking, he hated seeing her travel into another world where her thoughts controlled her, were all she thought about was the things she thought she had made wrong. He knew to well what she was thinking, and he hated it. He wanted to help her but he was also damaged. They were two damaged souls that had found each other and had made the other one whole - at least it was beginning to become whole.

Aria shook her head and turned around so she was facing him. "I miss being six when I didn't have to worry about everything, when my biggest problem was when people bought the exact same clothes as me, when I was carefree. "

"It's a part of growing up, you get other problems." Ezra said.

"I know it is, but it's not usual for a girl my age to feel like she wants to disappear from earth." Aria exclaimed.

"Do you still want to disappear?" Ezra asked frightened of her answer.

Aria shook her head. "No," Aria said. "I just wish I made different choices sometimes." Ezra nodded and pulled her in for a hug.

"Do you think I'm selfish?" Aria asked. Ezra pulled away and looked at her with confusion all over his face.

"Why would I think that?" Ezra asked.

"Isn't it selfish of me to try to kill myself because I think it's best for me and not caring about the consequences and the people I'm hurting in the progress?"

"If you look at it that way, but Aria, people see that you are feeling lost and they are now trying to help you, because they love you." Ezra said.

"But…" Aria started but Ezra interrupted her.

"No buts," Ezra said. "I love you and if not it's selfish for me to, because I can't give you what a guy your age could."

"I want you, only you." Aria said and smiled. "I'm sorry for bringing all this up, I know you are having a hard time too."

"But we'll get through our problems, "Ezra said and smiled. "Together."

"Together." Aria repeated and leaned in to kiss him.

* * *

**I don't know if it was what you expected but it was the best I could do at the moment. So now you know Ezra's "secret" are you disappointed what it was? **

**Review and let me know what you think. Love you guys!**


	18. IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

Just a little info for you guys. I'm going to Croatia on vacation and will be back on the 13/7 and because of that I will not have any update coming these days, and when I'm back, I'm starting my weekend job so the updating will also be slower because of that. I just wanted to know so you can prepare yourself.

And I also don't know where I'm going with this story anymore, I never intended on it to take this turn and be this many chapters and, well, I lost inspiration and I don't feel like writing anymore so this time while I'm away I will also take the time to think about if I will continue or not. I will inform you on my decision when I get back.

See you back here on 14/7 –with bad or good new, whatever way you would look on it.

Love!


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